Ma backs law to scrutinise future deals

In an attempt to break an impasse with students occupying the legislature, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou says he will throw his support behind a new law to establish a monitoring mechanism for all future accords signed with China.

His olive branch was met with boos from the protesters, most of them students, who had occupied the Parliament building and its surrounding roads for almost two weeks in opposition to a service trade agreement signed with China last June.

They are calling for 100,000 people to stage a rally today to further ratchet up pressure on the government. Many view the pact as a threat to the Taiwanese way of life, believing China will use it as a Trojan horse to dominate Taiwan's economy - and eventually the island itself.

Mr Ma, whose administration has inked 21 agreements with China since 2008, sought to mollify the protesters ahead of the rally. He said at a press conference yesterday that he will work with legislators to pass by end-May the proposed law to strengthen scrutiny of cross-strait agreements.

But he ruled out retracting the pact already signed with Beijing, as it will be a "body blow" to Taiwan's international credibility as well as its economic development. Any backtracking would also affect Taiwan's ability to join multilateral trade pacts such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he warned.

He also cited a poll to support his argument, saying that some 40 per cent of Taiwanese residents believe the current pace of developing economic ties with China is appropriate, while 20per cent feel it is too slow. In contrast, just over 30 per cent of respondents say economic ties with the mainland are proceeding too fast.

The student protests are rapidly turning into the biggest political crisis facing Mr Ma, with talk that it might even derail a potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which would be historic if it were to take place.

Mr Ma maintained that there was "no linkage" between the student protests and the proposed meeting. But he was visibly frustrated at times during the press conference, which stretched on for over an hour at his official residence, such as when he was asked whether he was "selling out Taiwan".

"In what way does this service trade pact 'sell out' Taiwan?" he said in response. "I don't understand it."

He reiterated that the agreement - which opens up 80 service sectors in China to Taiwanese companies versus 64 in Taiwan to Chinese companies - would help the island's enterprises enter the world's second-largest economy.

Fears that the island's small businesses would come under siege are also unfounded, Mr Ma argued, saying that Taiwanese companies are "very competitive".

Pointing by way of example to Taiwan's wholesale medical market, he said only four mainland Chinese companies entered the market after it was liberalised several years ago. The market remains dominated by 460 Taiwanese companies.

The ongoing dispute has sharply polarised Taiwan society, and those against the students' occupation mobilised themselves yesterday. Some dressed in white to call for "the return of our legislature".

Others took part in a "carnation" movement - a counterpoint to the students' "sunflower" movement - to ask them to cease their occupation.

"These students are militant, like 'little green guards'," said driver Hung Chin-tien, in reference to the Red Guards mobilised by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution. Green is the colour of Taiwan's pro-independence political coalition, which has allied itself to the student protest's cause.

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