Taiwan creates comic figures to promote trade pact with China

Jul 20, 2009, 12:56 GMT

   Taipei - Taiwan Monday presented two comic figures to help the government seek public support for a semi-free trade pact the island hopes to sign with China.

   'Mr Ec and Mrs Fa will join us in promoting the government's plan to sign the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with mainland China,' said Vice Economics Minister John Deng at a news conference.

   The two comic figures, Mr Ec and Mrs Fa, were created to try to use simple language to explain to the public why Taiwan needs to sign the ECFA, with China, Deng said.

   Deng said the two comic figures will soon appear in various government pamphlets, presenting the planned pact in a humorous and light-hearted fashion to avoid boring the public.

   The China-friendly government of President Ma Ying-jeou has sought to sign the pact with Beijing as soon as possible on concerns that Taiwan would be marginalized once China formed a trade bloc with the Association of South-East Asian Nations as soon as next year.

   Although it has repeatedly said there would still be protection for sunset industries in Taiwan once the island opened its market tariff-free to China, its plan to sign the pact with Beijing has encountered strong opposition from the pro-independence camp, led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

   The DPP has said that if the government signed the pact with China, it would seriously undermine the island's economy once the Taiwanese market is opened to the mainland.

   On Monday, the DPP sought the Central Election Commission's approval for a provisional motion to hold an island-wide referendum to decide whether to adopt the trade pact with China.

   Taiwan and China had been rivals since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949, but relations have improved since Ma took office in May and adopted a policy of engaging Beijing.