8/22/2019 DPP Newsletter July2013
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DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS
Peoples rights cannot be infringed on,democracy cannot go backwards!
Democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule
of law are valuable assets achieved through the
blood and tears of the Taiwanese people. The
DPP has always been a staunch defender of
these values, but at the moment, they are facing
their biggest threat. The people have used non-
violent means to simply advocate for their
stands, and we have seen incidents where the
people have encountered beatings and interro-
gations by police for simple cases such as draw-
ing towels with their viewpoints or even cross-ing a street across government-blocked zones.
When faced with the peoples pleas or resis-
tance, the governing power must take a step
back and listen to their voices in order to under-
stand why the public is feeling resentful. How-
ever, the governing power has not only failed to
show modesty or to conduct a self-reflection,
they have also abused the states power to ex-
cessively enforce the law, infringing on the ba-
sic human rights of freedom of expression and
suppressing the rights of citizens to participate
in civic society.
Joint statement by six counties and cities under DPPadministration
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In the event of these occurrences, the DPP ex-
presses its strongest condemnation in the most
solemn manner. Absolutely not, can we be gov-
erned by perversity or allow the government to
brutally lash on its people. Even more, we cannotallow for the values of democracy, freedom, hu-
man rights and the rule of law turn backwards!
Taiwan is not a police state, and we cannot let
Taiwan to become such!
In order to protect the peoples right to express
their opinions and to prevent the government
from suppressing civic rights, besides creating a
legal aid group, the DPP plans to actively provide
assistance to citizens whose rights have been in-fringed on. For those who have been mistreated
by the police, the DPP issues the following three
points:
1. We stand firm in protecting the peoples right
to express their opinions. The six administra-
tions governed by the DPP has already de-
cided to join in a cohesive effort to request all
police under their jurisdictions to strictly ad-
here to the law, not to exceed the legal
boundaries, and not to engage in inappropri-
ate handling or arresting of its citizens. We
also appeal for other counties and cities to
join these efforts.
2. We solemnly request to the national govern-
ment that from now on, they must not com-
mand the police force to disrespect the peo-
ples freedom, human rights or to violate the
democratic rule of law. The police should be
the protector of the people, and they should
not be participant to the suppression of the
peoples right to speak or their right to civic
participation.
3. We sincerely appeal to the entire police force,
that in times when similar activities are taking
place, if they meet with unreasonable com-
mands by the national security agencies, to
persist in the standpoint of protecting the
people, their freedoms and to ensure their se-
curity.
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Since the government passed the cross strait serv-
ices trade agreement in Taiwan, all sectors of
Taiwanese society have voiced strong opposition
to the government signing such trade agreement
in a non-transparent manner.
DPP Chair Su Tseng-chang paid a visit on July 27
to the large group of protesters against the serv-
ices agreement sitting-in on Ketagalan Boulevard.
Just about when the special legislative sessionwas about to begin on July 29, when the agree-
ment is set to be reviewed and deliberated, Chair
Su assured the protesters that the DPP continues
to stand opposed to non-transparent cross strait
deals and that the DPP would give it its all to en-
sure the means of sustenance to the Taiwanese
people.
Today the people stand here in front of the presi-
dential office to tell President Ma and his admini-stration that they are dissatisfied with the KMTs
non-transparent way of signing agreements, he
said.
Chair Su further affirmed to the protesters present
that the DPP would stand on their side and collec-
tively voice their opinions to request
President Ma and the KMT to under-
stand their viewpoints. He said that it
was necessary that this administrationunderstands the needs of the industry
and to allow them to participate in the
debate. He lastly promised that in the
Legislative Yuan, the DPP will review
each item of the agreement carefully,
and that it will make sure that the
KMT legislative caucus will not pass
the agreement relentlessly.
Earlier on that week, Chair Su visitedthe community of Pingxi in Taoyuan
County and sat down with workers in the hair
care services industry. He urged them to call their
local KMT legislators to demand them to repre-
sent their interest, instead of obeying to what
President Ma and the party tells them to do.
A representative from the beauty salon industry
expressed worry about the services agreement,
saying that she was concerned about the Chinese
influence on their industry. She said that it is gen-erally known that hair salons are places where
advertising are effective because most customers
must stay in the shops for at least one hour, and
there is no preventing of Chinese investors and
workers coming to hair salons to advertise their
ideology.
Another representative from a barber shop asso-
ciation said he was mainly concerned about the
degrading situation in barber shops with the latestsurging of 100NT barber shops run by large cor-
porations. He said that their business have fallen
50% due to bad economic times, and they are
concerned that it would be even worst with more
Chinese investors coming-in to this industry.
DPP stands firm in opposing non-transparent cross strait agreements
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In response to the Ma administrations use of ad-
ministrative resources to propagandize the services
trade agreement between Taiwan and China, DPP
Spokesperson Wang Min-Sheng announced on
July 10 the launching of a website created by the
DPP to support those affected by the services
agreement.
The website is aimed at providing information of
resources and places to turn to for those that have
been negatively impacted by the agreement. The
main headline on the website states, The services
trade agreement between Taiwan and China
is looming: What to do?.
The DPP will also create 50,000 leaflets asking the
public, Do you know what they signed? in order
for the Taiwanese people to understand the impact
of the agreement on Taiwans industry, society and
the job market in a comprehensive way, urging
them to push their district legislators to protect
their rights in deliberating the agreement at the
special session of the Legislative Yuan to start end
of July. The leaflets will be distributed to each city
chapter and party service branchesand reach
crowds in markets, bus and train stations and tem-
ples.
The website is built by staff at the DPP headquar-
ters, and it has been linked to the DPPs official
website and on Facebook.
People need to
find help for
themselves, said
Wang, citing a
survey on general
public knowledgeregarding the
services trade
agreement, which
showed that most
people had only
vague ideas about
the content of the
agreement due to
lack of transpar-
ency in the nego-tiation process.
In the survey,
among employees of the opened industries in the
agreement, only 22.10 % of the informants knew
that their industry was in the opened list, while up
to 62.60% wrongly thought they werent. Still an-
other 16.3% had no knowledge whether they were
included at all.
Among the self-employed, only 24.7% had learned
DPP launches website, issues pamphlets toexplain impact of cross strait services
agreement
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that their industry had been opened, while 57.6%
thought they were not included and 17.6% reported
they had no knowledge.
Among professional workers, only 26.8% knew thattheir industry had been opened, while 58.9%
thought they were not included; still another 14.30%
said to have no knowledge. Mr. Wang said, given
that the services industry make up 70% of Taiwans
GDP, with about 5 million workers at stake, the im-
pact of the agreement is enormous. However, the
Ma administration has hidden the truth, leaving peo-
ple ill-informed about the impact confronting them.
Mr. Wang further explained that the website sug-gests three methods to understand and respond to the
services agreement. First, it urges people to find out
if their industry has been included. Second, they
should call their district legislators to assure sub-
stantial deliberation of the agreement that protect
Taiwans industries in a way
that the people, not President
Ma or the KMT, would expect it
to. Third, people may join the
Defend Our Jobs movementand spread it through Facebook
so more people will be able to
see if they are at stake, too.
When asked how he felt about
the presence of two officials
from the Ministry of Economy
gathering information at the
press conference on that day,
Mr. Wang said it was good if
the government would listen to
the opinions of the people and
the industries. He added that the
DPP had gathered the peoples
and industrys thoughts about
the agreement, and it will fully
represent them, instead of tak-
ing heed of whatever the KMT
and President Ma says, as the
current government has been
doing.
Citing newspaper news that Taiwan and New Zea-
land are soon signing the Economic Cooperation
Agreement (ECA), Mr. Wang said that New Zealandand Singapore are quite different countries from
China as they are free economies. He further said
that the DPP has been committed to free trade
agreements with the two countries since it was in
power, and it continues to support further economic
cooperation. Lastly, he said that the DPP will en-
courage its legislators to help revise tax laws in fa-
vor of the agreement when it is under substantial
deliberation.
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Uncover truth, go after those responsible,push for military reform in Hungs death:
DPP
Regarding the death of the army conscript this July
and inciting a public crisis in the military, Chair Su
Tseng-chang gave a report of the DPPs plan of ac-tion at the Central Standing Committee on July 17,
listing three major demands that the DPP has made
to the KMT administration, which were: uncover
the truth, go after those responsible and push for
reform.
Chair Su said that the incident took place almost
half a month ago and there has been no uncovering
of the truth so far. He said that the public has seen
enough bureaucratic wrangling, including inconsis-tent statements by officials after the incident. Addi-
tionally, missing video footage has also caused the
public to increase their bad impression of the mili-
tary system in Taiwan.
Seeing that the most basic demand by the victims
family and the public is for the government to un-
cover the truth, and there are no developments so
far, the DPP wishes to use its influence to push for
more reform, Chair Su said. He announced the
DPPs formulation of a subcommittee through the
joint efforts of the DPP Headquarters
and its legislative caucus with the
purpose to research and draft bills on
how to reform Taiwans military.
He announced at the meeting that the
DPP Central Standing Committee has
passed the forming of the subcom-mittee and its members will include
legislators Gao Jyh-peng, Wu Ping-
jui, Hsiao Bi-khim, Chen Ting-fei
and Tsai Chi-chang; and DPPs Dep-
uty Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi.
Chair Su also expressed his condo-
lences to the Hung family, saying that
not only the victim, Hung Chong-chiu, suffered in
this incident, but his family is also in pain. The mili-tary should be solely focused on finding those re-
sponsible so that his family can find some peace, he
said.
However, this is not the first incident of military
abuse in Taiwan, said Chair Su. He said that in view
of the publics dissatisfaction with the military, the
DPP Legislative Caucus has set-up a complaint hot-
line for the public to file complaints for those serv-
ing in the army whether professionally or as part ofthe conscription service. DPP legislators with legal
aid background will distribute the work between
them to handle each case in an efficient manner.
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Expanded China Forums opens this monthat the DPP
The month of July saw two important events for the
DPP in cross strait affairs, with two forums held
concentrated on China policy. The forums were or-
ganized by the DPPs China Affairs Committee,
which was formed in May of this year.
Since China Affairs Committee meetings are pri-
vately held and smaller in size, these forums, titled
the Huashan China Forums, will be more com-
prehensive and expansive, open to members of theacademia, think tanks, interested public citizens as
well as officials or former officials from different
political parties and government administrations.
The DPP will hold a total of nine Huashan China
Forums.
99 Resolution still the DPPs core value
The first forum meeting was held on July 4, subti-
tled Main Values and Visions for Taiwans ChinaPolicy, and it was presided by Chair Su Tseng-
chang.
In his concluding remarks, Chair Su said that it was
important for the DPPs China policy to be interna-
tional in nature. He said that in his visits to Singa-
pore, Japan, the United States and Canada, he dis-
covered that even though Taiwan is small, it plays
an important role in influencing the worlds state of
affairs.
He further said that our international friends are
interested in Taiwans developments, and they also
have wide expectations for when the DPP returns to
power. He lastly appealed for everyone to have
confidence in Taiwan.
Participants discussed the DPPs Resolution regard-
ing Taiwans Future, which according to Chair Su,
still remained a core value for the DPP. Even
though ideologically, the DPPs China Policy had
some differences with the KMT, he stressed that it
was essential that both political parties not to be
engaged in a competition game for Beijings sup-
port.
The 92 Consensus
The second Huashan China Forum was held on July
25. Chiu I-jen, who served as national security ad-
viser during the past DPP administration, presided
over the meeting. The92 Consensus was the main
topic discussed.
Director of the DPPs Public Survey Center Wu
Hsiang-jung first presented public opinion sur-
veys on the peoples views towards the 92
Consensus. Following, there were remarks by
Mr. Su Chi, former secretary-general of the Na-
tional Security Council under the KMT admini-
stration; Mr. Chen Ming-tong, former chairman
of the Mainland Affairs Council and Mr. Chen
Rong-jye, former secretary-general of the
Straits Exchange Foundation under the DPP
administration; and lastly, Mr. Shen Fu-hsiung,
former DPP legislator.
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Two main points were issued by
the DPP at a press statement en-
suing the meeting, which are
highlighted below:
1. The DPP advocates peace,
protecting Taiwans sover-
eignty and insisting on the
value of democracy. In order
to find alternative methods to
the 92 Consensus, party
members have issued sugges-
tions that include: different
constitutional interpretations,
the DPPs 1999 Resolutionregarding Taiwans Future,
strengthen the awareness of
the Republic of China,
among others. All these can
serve as policy directions, but
they must all go through
more wide internal party dis-cussion.
2. In order to pursue cross strait
peace and for Taiwan to have
greater international space at
the same time, besides having
to take into account the China
and US factors, we must take
greater consideration to the
views of the Taiwanese pub-lic. Especially, we must be
able to show to the Taiwanese
people that they can trust the
DPP to be capable of han-
dling cross strait relations.
This is the most important
issue that the DPP musttackle with.
The third Huashan China Forum
will be titled Reactions to
Chinas Influences on Taiwan,
and it will be presided by Mr. Yu
Shyi-kun, former premier under
the DPP administration. The date
of the meeting will be later an-
nounced by the DPPs China Af-fairs Committee.
Remarks by Chair Su Tseng-chang at firstHuashan China Forum
July 4, 2013
There were some that didnt have
a positive outlook on the forma-
tion of the DPPs China Affairs
Committee, doubting that the
DPP was capable of gathering a
consensus. Nevertheless today,
not only has the China Affairs
Committee been formed, but wehave also held our first meeting. I
am delighted today to participate,
and following the lines of our
Taiwans China Agenda, we hope
to gather more opinions from re-
spected members of the party,
ushering-in more voices from
civic society so that we can en-
gage in wide dis-
cussion, and so thatwe can learn from
each other. We
have planned to
hold nine meetings
in order to talk
more extensively
and in-depth. Dur-
ing the process of
formulating a pol-
icy toward China,we must find ways
to create a policy that not justreflects the partys core founda-
tion, but it must also represent
the wide support of civic society.
The China Policy is now the
topic of the times in which all
Taiwanese must face. Especially
now, the current situation is one
where China is not just across the
Strait, but the China factor hasalready entered Taiwan, and their
strategy towards Taiwan is be-
coming more refined and deli-
cate. Whether one is used to it or
not, Taiwan must face up to it
and respond accordingly; and
whether we like it or not, the
DPP has the responsibility to is-
sue a China policy that conforms
to the interests of Taiwans fu-ture.
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However, the agendas of the people of Taiwan vary
based on their different values. Additionally, the
interaction between Taiwan and China should not
be solely on bilateral relations because it impactsthe balance of power among the countries in the
region as well as the competition and cooperation
between the major powers. The public at the mo-
ment is growingly dissatisfied towards the ruling
party for their overly-inclined China policy, and
they are identifying more with the DPPs persis-
tence in safeguarding Taiwan. At the same time, the
public also highly expects the DPP to take more
concrete actions in regards to cross strait relations.
On one hand, we must continue adhering to our
mission of safeguarding the Taiwan consensus. On
the other hand, we must also strengthen and bal-
ance our capabilities towards those with different
values.
Hence, in a complex and challenging environment,
we are here to explore our hearts aspirations and
confront the China factor. We must explore which
values are those in which Taiwan can absolutely not
abandon and which ideals we must pursue. Three
years ago, I took the lead in issuing the idea of a
Taiwan Consensus, promoting survival is king and
democracy as the foundation. The Taiwan Consen-
sus that I advocate is one in which a consensus is
gathered on the efforts made for hundreds of years
by generations of Taiwanese people for survival
and livelihood. I believe in the question: why
should we discuss the future if we cant survive
now? If we cannot preserve the current democratic
system, in which we all live freely and democrati-
cally and in which we can democratically deter-
mine our core values, what is the meaning of sim-
ply surviving?
The DPP is an open and diverse political party. In
regards to confronting China, there are many dif-
ferent opinions within the party, and this is a nor-
mal phenomenon. I have no doubt that the discus-
sion today will be quite animated, and I dont ex-
pect anyone to reserve their opinions. The DPP has
never been shy of discussion because diverse opin-
ion justly reflects the DPPs nature. This also shows
to the outside world the DPPs innovative and
lively characteristics. However, having discussion
doesnt mean there will be a winning or losing side,or with the purpose to trample on anyone. Dealing
with China doesnt mean that one is pro-China or
anti-China. I believe that if we are all in Taiwan, we
are all on the same side, and we all have the same
objectives. What we need to do is to protect Tai-
wans core values, to create the most beneficial in-
terest for Taiwan, and to issue a policy of stability
and peace for the region, bringing out our greatest
contribution. Let us give all our efforts.
Thank You!
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China Afairs Committee: strengthen Tai-wans economic advantages, develop cross
strait equalityThe China Affairs Committee held its second meet-
ing on July 11, two months after the last meeting on
May 9, and which will continue to be held every
two months. Below are the summary points of the
meeting:
The economy is Taiwans lifeline and the growing
Chinese economy is a topic that Taiwan cannot
avoid. Since the cross strait relationship is a com-plex one, Taiwans economic relationship with
China is not less simple. We must not solely take the
point of view from the economy and trade to deal
with Chinas economic relationship. Consequently,
Taiwans economic relationship with China should
have a strategic objective. We believe that our eco-
nomic strategy towards China should be focused on
two main objectives:
1. Strengthen Taiwans economic advantages(1) Strengthen capital markets compared to
other Asian countries, Taiwans capital
market is mature, containing high liquid-
ity and possessing sound structures and
sufficient regulatory provisions. These
advantages are reasons enough why we
should protect Taiwans capital market
and incentivize investors, Taiwanese
businessmen and foreign investments to
stay in Taiwan.(2) Maintain technological lead in order to
maintain our lead on the technological
industry and for Taiwans economy to
remain autonomous, the deepening of
cross strait trade should not be subject to
China. In regards to Taiwans highly-
developed manufacturing industry, its
managerial and operational know-how
and its R&D capacity, the governing
authorities should provide them with an
optimal operational environment in Tai-
wan. At the same time, it must also nego-
tiate with China on strengthening IPR
protection.
(3) Retaining talent With Taiwans social
security network, which includes na-
tional healthcare, the pension system and
labor protection, retaining our talent
should be key. This is also a protective
measure for the effects of globalization.Encouraging our citizens to remain in
Taiwan would mean more local consum-
erism and ensuring Taiwans economic
vitality.
(4) Guarding our core values freedom, fair-
ness, openness and diversity are impor-
tant foundations for Taiwans civic soci-
ety. These are essential elements that
pushed Taiwans economic development,
and they are also the core values thatprotect Taiwans sovereign existence. In
order to become an exceptional capitalist
society, no matter how economic and
trade interactions between Taiwan and
China develop, these values must be in-
sisted on.
2. Developing an equal cross strait relationship
Since Taiwan and China dont have equal eco-
nomic systems, and Taiwans market is highlycompetitive and open while Chinas is strictly
controlled, the cross strait exchange process
must go through two principles, which is the
careful protection of the democratic process and
non-transparency. Furthermore, the benefits of
cross strait exchanges must be enjoyed by eve-
ryone. Lastly, Taiwan has not asked for conces-
sions by China or has it necessarily benefited so
far in cross strait exchanges, and this is the rea-
son why it is essential that we build an equal
cross strait relationship.
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Second DPP Youth Training kicks of
Starting on July 30, the DPPs Department of Youth
Affairs hosted for its second year a youth program
for students and recent graduates with seminars and
on-site training on public policy and civic participa-
tion, including arranging participants to intern at
the DPP headquarters for a period of two weeks ormore. According to Mr. Chou Yu-shou, deputy di-
rector of the Youth Department, this year was spe-
cial because the DPP also coordinated for the se-
lected interns to serve traineeships at non-profit or-
ganizations.
Even though tens of thousands of young people ap-
plied, the Youth Department was only able to select
24 outstanding individuals. However, this was an
increase of one third from last year, where only 18individuals were selected to participate.
The aim of the program is to inspire youth to ac-
tively participate in public affairs, to develop a plat-
form where young people can engage in politics
and to promote democracy as well as to keep up-to-
date on issues that matter to youth today.
DPP Chair Su Tseng-chang was also present at the
program opening to welcome the participants and
meet them face-to-face.
We are an open party and we hope to encourage
practical learning through real apprenticeship,
Chair Su said. We also wish to encourage the par-
ticipants present to take advantage of this opportu-
nity to learn materials in which they dont usually
see in the standard textbook.
Chair Su also gave his words of wisdom to the
young participants by suggesting to them to never
abandon their dreams, to look to the future and play
to their strengths, and to use their knowledge to
serve the community.
Participants came from different universities all
across the country and from different majors. A
graduate in the major of Italian Language and Lit-erature from Fujen Catholic University said that
their reason for participating was because of per-
sonal interests in political participation. Another
student from National Chengchi University in the
field of law said they participated because growing
up in China, they didnt have exposure to politics
and civic participation.
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DEMOCRACY &
PROGRESS
PUBLISHED BY:
Department of InternationalAffairs DemocraticProgressive Party
9F, No. 30, Pei-Ping EastRoad, Taipei, Taiwan
Tel: 886-2-2392-9989 ext. 306
Fax: 886-2-2393-0342
Email: [email protected]
Website:
http://www.dpp.org.tw
http://www.dpp.org.tw/http://www.dpp.org.tw/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]