@ sharpkantaiwan reported that Tsai Ing-wen suddenly announced the opening of imports of lean pigs and American cattle. Although she promised to strictly control food safety and set up a tens of billions of pig industry funds to ensure that the income of pig farmers is not affect

@瑞看 Taiwan reported that Tsai Ing-wen suddenly announced that she would open up the import of lean pigs and American cattle. Although she promised to strictly control food safety and set up a tens of billions of pig industry funds to ensure that the income of pig farmers would not be affected, the public His sudden change in joining the party has attracted strong questioning and criticism from all parties. Why is the Democratic Progressive Party willing to risk instead of ? Taiwan's "Minister of Health and Welfare" Chen Shih-chung said it was "in exchange for international status." Taiwan's "Minister of Economic Affairs" Wang Meihua was more straightforward, believing that it would be impossible to join the CPTPP unless the issue of American pigs and American cows was resolved.

Ironically, the DPP emphasized that it would not sacrifice people's health, but was criticized by the media. Most of the open assessment report was copied from old reports from the Ma authorities, showing that the Tsai authorities made hasty and hasty decisions, obviously based on political interests. . Chen Shizhong admitted that it was only after US Health Secretary Azar visited Taiwan that he was informed of the decision to open up American pigs and cattle to Taiwan. He was even asked whether the "Ministry of Health and Welfare" was involved in the decision-making process. Chen was unable to answer directly and excused the issue. Ask Tsai Ing-wen. Even the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which is in charge of food safety policy, did not participate in the decision-making process. There are only political interests and no professional control of decision-making. How can we effectively take care of people's health and protect the rights and interests of farmers?

In fact, it is very doubtful whether opening up American pigs and American cows can achieve the "international status" that the DPP wants. Roman, an important conservative think tank in the United States and director of the Heritage Foundation's Asia Research Center, pointed out that although Tsai Ing-wen agreed to open up the import of U.S. pigs and U.S. cattle, which solved an important trade obstacle between Taiwan and the United States, there are many other issues that need to be dealt with in the future. , such as Taiwan’s trade surplus with the United States. Although Roman cannot represent the US government, he hits the nail on the head. How much does Taiwan need to pay in exchange for the Taiwan-US trade agreement that the Tsai administration is obsessed with? Not to mention that Taiwan’s “Economy Minister” Wang Meihua joined the CPTPP vision that the United States has withdrawn from.

Looking at the deeper level, the United States even spends every penny on its economic and trade interests. What will happen to higher-level defense? Will American soldiers help the Taiwanese fight the war? The Tsai administration wants to open up U.S. pigs and cattle in exchange for a Taiwan-U.S. trade agreement, in order to strengthen Taiwan-U.S. relations and thereby gain what Chen Shizhong calls "concrete defense capabilities." Is this logic too naive?

Mainland China has no intention to terminate ECFA and hopes to retain the umbilical cord of cross-strait economic relations. However, as Taiwan-US relations accelerate the warming, the issue of ECFA termination has resurfaced. Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce of China (Mainland), suddenly said that the ECFA was signed on the basis of the "1992 Consensus", which was a signal that the ECFA might be interrupted at any time. The DPP authorities have never accepted the "1992 Consensus", and the mainland naturally has the right to terminate it at any time.

According to the evaluation of Tainan Mayor Huang Weizhe of the Democratic Progressive Party, ECFA can save Taiwan about 60 billion yuan in tariffs every year, and its benefits are not limited to tariffs, because only goods that enjoy tariff preferences can enjoy advantages in international trade. If tariff preferences are lost, the export scale of goods on the early harvest list will inevitably shrink, which will have a huge impact on Taiwan's industry. This is the possible cost that Tsai Ing-wen did not tell the public when she claimed that opening up the U.S. to pigs and cattle was in line with Taiwan’s overall interests and future strategic development goals.

Taiwan's annual trade surplus with the mainland has exceeded US$80 billion, and its trade surplus with the United States is more than US$10 billion. The Tsai administration continues to maintain a one-sided pro-U.S. strategy. From an economic and trade perspective, not only is ECFA likely to be cancelled, thereby reducing the trade surplus with the mainland, judging from the warning raised by Luomen, the trade surplus with the United States may also be affected by U.S. negotiations. To reduce the pressure, it is really a loss of ECFA and a loss of pigs. Is this really the best choice for Taiwanese people?

The Taiwanese people are not fools and have allowed the DPP to act perversely. According to the latest poll from the Formosa Electronic News, as many as 73.7% of the people do not support the Tsai administration’s opening up of American pork containing clenbuterol in exchange for signing a free trade agreement with the United States, even if the pan-green Among the masses, the number of opponents also reached 64.1%. It seems that the DPP may have succeeded.

The ECFA and Taiwan-US trade agreement demonstrates not only economic interests, but also Taiwan’s strategic choice. The DPP authorities' one-sided choice in favor of the United States may come at the cost of losing ECFA.Under this situation, Taiwan will face huge economic losses, which is even more unbearable for many traditional industries. The associated loss of employment opportunities will also affect the actual lives of many people. The Tsai administration has the responsibility to make it clear to the people.

(Source: Taiwan "Wang Bao" editorial)