MAC not making good on promises

On Sept. 25 the Cabinet passed amendments to the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) that will soon be sent to the Legislative Yuan for review. The amendments include measures that would allow charity groups to be entrusted with negotiations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, which would amount to building a second track for contact aside from just the Straits Exchange Foundation.

The proposed amendments would also not allow those traveling between Taiwan and China to have dual citizenship. Furthermore, direct trade would be opened up in accordance with WTO regulations, Chinese companies would be allowed to publish advertisements in Taiwan under certain conditions and academic cooperation would be permitted between schools on both sides. Safeguards would also be established for the rights and interests of teachers who teach children of Taiwanese businesspeople in China.

While we recognize the efforts of the Cabinet to pragmatically put forth these amendments to cope with environmental changes and take care of people's rights and interests, it is our biggest regret that the amendments fail to touch upon the issue of direct links.

Considering that direct links with China are closely related to Taiwan's economic development, opposition parties proposed in June to amend laws to ease restrictions on direct links. They had planned to immediately vote on the proposal, but the Mainland Affairs Council demanded a delay of the vote, reasoning that a complete version of the amendments should be advanced first.

The MAC reached an agreement with both the DPP and opposition caucuses by promising it would send the draft amendments to the legislature for review before the second legislative session began in September. And the draft bill was to have been given priority in the session and three readings were to have been completed by the end of November. The MAC also pledged to establish the small three links between Penghu and China by early September on a case-by-case basis.

But now, in October, the check for Penghu's small three links has bounced. Moreover, the MAC did not amend the regulations regarding direct links in its amendments. The partisan negotiation had focused on direct links and the MAC's promise was exchanged for the parties' agreement that they wouldn't vote on transportation links in the legislature. But now the MAC's amendments have only added regulations on the management of foreign ships and aircraft, without a word mentioned on direct links. This deliberate breach of its promise might sow the seeds of partisan conflicts in this legislative session.

Is it necessary to amend the statute in a bid to relax restrictions on direct links? The MAC, the authority in charge, frequently claims that there is no need to revise the law since the current legal structure is capable of dealing with the issue. It is correct in terms of law, but not in terms of policy. Articles 28 to 32, which regulate cross-strait shipping and foreign ships and aircraft all stipulate that "No craft shall sail/fly ... without permission from the authorities concerned," and that "Permission regulations are drafted by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications along with relevant government agencies and promulgated after being filed to the Cabinet for ratification."