TAIPEI, June 14, 2009 (AFP) - Taiwan's main opposition party on Sunday kickstarted a campaign to push for a referendum on the Beijing-friendly government's plans to forge a comprehensive trade pact with China.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) insisted that since the pact - similar in scope to a free trade agreement - would be far-reaching, it must be scrutinised by the people rather than the Ma Ying-jeou administration.

"Whatever the content of the ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement), it could decide on the future of Taiwan. Therefore, we demand the issues be voted on by the people," DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen told reporters.

It would be the first referendum since the pro-independence DPP lost power to the Kuomintang party in May last year.

The DPP hopes to collect at least 80,000 signatures by early July in the first part of a two-step process required by law for the referendum to go ahead.

Once it reaches its target figure, the party will then have to enlist the endorsement of at least 870,000 supporters before the poll can take place next year.

"In addition to sovereignty, the ECFA may also involve issues like the opening of local markets to China's agricultural and industrial products, and may lead to job losses,' DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang said, listing concerns dismissed by the ruling party.

China still regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification by force if necessary, although the island has governed itself since the end of a civil war in 1949.

The Ma administration claims that the trade pact, whose details have yet to be drafted, is designed to boost the flow of goods and personnel across the Strait and to help the island tackle the recession.

Taiwan's Economic Minister Yiin Chii-ming had defended the pact, claiming that it could boost the island's economic growth by 1.4 percentage points.

In particular, the petrochemical, machinery and auto components sectors are expected to benefit from closer cross-strait ties, Yiin said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told visiting Wu Poh-hsiung, chairman of the Kuomintang, in Beijing last month that talks on the ECFA were likely to start in the second half of the year.

Hu said the mainland would like to see an economic agreement that would benefit economic development on both sides and improve people's welfare, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Relations with China have improved dramatically since Ma was inaugurated in May 2008, vowing to promote reconciliation and trade ties.