Talks between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yulin (陳雲林) start this week. We know that the talks will cover four major issues: the direct shipping of goods, proposals for more direct flight routes for air cargo, postal issues and food safety and sanitation.
These discussions will involve possible amendments to our laws and to Article 5 of the Statute Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
That law states: “Where the content of the agreement requires any amendment to laws or any new legislation, the administration authorities of the agreement shall submit the agreement through the Executive Yuan to the Legislative Yuan for consideration within 30 days after the execution of the agreement; where its content does not require any amendment to laws or any new legislation, the administration authorities of the agreement shall submit the agreement to the Executive Yuan for approval and to the Legislative Yuan for record, with a confidential procedure if necessary.”
However, the Cabinet continues to insist that the issues to be discussed during the talks will not require an amendment to any of our laws so it would only need to inform the legislature about any agreements for “reference.” That means if any agreements are signed as a result of future cross-strait talks, this same strategy can be used to evade legislative oversight. This would turn the legislature into a law-making bureau subordinate to the Cabinet.
What is of greater concern, however, is whether the government will uphold our national dignity and self-respect in the negotiations, and take the position that Taiwan and China are diplomatic equals. This is the only way our government can benefit the Taiwanese.
However, if the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) signs secret deals with China, it will not be serving our national interests. If the legislature is unable to monitor such deals or come up with any countermeasures, the rights and interests of Taiwanese will be damaged.
The Ma administration and the SEF must remember that all SEF-ARATS agreements should be sent to the legislature for review to allow the oversight that will safeguard Taiwan’s rights and interests.
Gao Jyh-peng is a Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
We are used to hearing that whenever something happens, it means Taiwan is about to fall to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) cannot change the color of his socks without China experts claiming it means an invasion is imminent. So, it is no surprise that what happened in Venezuela over the weekend triggered the knee-jerk reaction of saying that Taiwan is next. That is not an opinion on whether US President Donald Trump was right to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the way he did or if it is good for Venezuela and the world. There are other, more qualified
The immediate response in Taiwan to the extraction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the US over the weekend was to say that it was an example of violence by a major power against a smaller nation and that, as such, it gave Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) carte blanche to invade Taiwan. That assessment is vastly oversimplistic and, on more sober reflection, likely incorrect. Generally speaking, there are three basic interpretations from commentators in Taiwan. The first is that the US is no longer interested in what is happening beyond its own backyard, and no longer preoccupied with regions in other
As technological change sweeps across the world, the focus of education has undergone an inevitable shift toward artificial intelligence (AI) and digital learning. However, the HundrED Global Collection 2026 report has a message that Taiwanese society and education policymakers would do well to reflect on. In the age of AI, the scarcest resource in education is not advanced computing power, but people; and the most urgent global educational crisis is not technological backwardness, but teacher well-being and retention. Covering 52 countries, the report from HundrED, a Finnish nonprofit that reviews and compiles innovative solutions in education from around the world, highlights a
A recent piece of international news has drawn surprisingly little attention, yet it deserves far closer scrutiny. German industrial heavyweight Siemens Mobility has reportedly outmaneuvered long-entrenched Chinese competitors in Southeast Asian infrastructure to secure a strategic partnership with Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, Vingroup. The agreement positions Siemens to participate in the construction of a high-speed rail link between Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. German media were blunt in their assessment: This was not merely a commercial win, but has symbolic significance in “reshaping geopolitical influence.” At first glance, this might look like a routine outcome of corporate bidding. However, placed in
RSS