Taiwanese Protest Cross-Strait Free-Trade Talks

protester holds up a sign that reads 'Heaven eliminates the CCP' (Lin Shijie/the Epoch Times)

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TAICHUNG, Taiwan—Under heavy security, Chen Yunlin, China’s top envoy to Taiwan, arrived in Taichung for free-trade talks on Dec. 21. Ten thousand demonstrators had marched through the streets the previous day protesting “under-the-table talks.”

Chen came to Taiwan for the fourth round of informal talks with the current Ma Ying-Jeou administration regarding the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). The agreement proposes a free flow of various industrial products, services, and capital between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

“We want to move down the road of peace,” Chen said shortly after his arrival, according to an AP report.

But the opposition believes the ECFA would result in a shift of resources and production activity from Taiwan to China, where production costs are significantly lower. It would encourage manufacturing industries to move out of Taiwan more quickly, prompting an increase in unemployment.