Taiwan plans to spend 45 billion dollars (1.4 billion US dollars) to help people who will lose their jobs as a result of a planned trade pact with China, local media reported Monday.

Wang Ju-hsuan, chairwoman of the Council of Labour Affairs, made the promise amid growing concern that the controversial agreement could cause a large proportion of the island's workforce to become redundant.

"Behind every labourer there is a family that needs to be fed. The government has a responsibility to take care of them," Wang said, according to the Central News Agency.

The government plans to spend the money on subsidies to families whose breadwinner is suddenly without work, and will also be earmarked for job training to make them fit for the changing labour market, the agency said.

Taiwan's opposition has warned that the agreement, which could be signed next year, will cost 1.6 million jobs, or nearly 15 percent of the island's total labour force.

However, Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang party has argued that the agreement will speed up exchanges with China and lift the island's economic growth by at least one percentage point.

Ties between former enemies Taipei and Beijing have improved markedly since last year, after Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang became president.

After boosting economic exchanges and allowing more Chinese tourists to visit the island, the Ma administration is now looking to the trade agreement, called the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement.

earlier related report

Most Taiwanese oppose top China envoy's visit: survey
Taipei (AFP) Dec 14, 2009 –

Most Taiwanese oppose a planned visit by a top Chinese envoy, saying it should be postponed to avoid a repeat of violent protests that accompanied his last trip to the island, a survey showed Monday.

Fifty-six percent think the visit by Chen Yunlin, scheduled for next week, should wait until Taiwan has reached agreement on a controversial China trade pact pushed vigorously by the government in Taipei, according to the poll.

The survey of 1,078 people was carried out by Taiwan Think Tank, a privately-run organisation with links to the island's anti-China opposition.

They were asked if Chen's visit should be put off until Taiwan's public has arrived at a consensus on the trade pact "to avoid the re-occurrence of conflict."

Chen, the head of China's quasi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, sparked violent protests in the streets of Taipei when he visited the island's capital for talks late last year.

He is due to hold talks with his Taiwanese opposite number Chiang Pin-kung next week in the central Taiwan city of Taichung.

Despite assurances from the government that no politics will be discussed in the meeting — the fourth since ties thawed in mid-2008 — Chen's planned visit has caused mounting concern.

His semi-official association has been authorised to handle ties in the absence of formal relations, as has its Taiwanese counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation.

The coming negotiations will focus on four topics, including double taxation, inspection of farming produce, fisheries cooperation and industry standards certification.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Monday it plans to hold a huge rally in Taichung on Sunday, hoping to attract up to 100,000 people.

"Anyone who is concerned about the import of tainted Chinese goods and the possible negative impact of the trade agreement on less competitive industries should stand up," DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang told reporters.

The trade agreement, which the island's pro-Beijing government hopes to sign next year, will lift some barriers to the free flow of personnel and goods between the two former rivals.

The government has claimed that the trade agreement, a critical step towards normalising bilateral trade ties, could lift economic growth by one percentage point while the DPP has warned it could imperil the island's separate status.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of a civil war 60 years ago. Beijing still considers the island part of its territory and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary.

However, ties have improved markedly since the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou became president of Taiwan in May last year, actively boosting trade links and allowing in more Chinese tourists.

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