Seeing talks on a proposed cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) as negotiations between one “area” and another, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has taken it upon himself to relegate international trade relations that should be dealt with under the WTO framework to the domestic level. In doing so, he has demoted Taiwan to the status of a local administrative region. This is totally unacceptable.
Those in charge of government policy even try to cover up the reality of how Taiwan’s sovereignty is being diminished by quoting the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例). They are barefaced liars who are unwilling to take responsibility for this travesty that is selling Taiwan down the river.
Countries around the world sign free-trade agreements as they wish, under the WTO framework. If disputes arise, they can be mediated by seeking the mediation channels laid out by the WTO.
Now that the Ma administration is happily accepting the ECFA framework that makes such disputes a domestic matter, Taiwan will not even have recourse to the WTO should disputes arise. If this ECFA does not involve a loss of sovereignty for Taiwan, what does? In addition, negotiations between the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait are all conducted on the precondition of recognizing Ma’s beloved “one China, with each side having its own interpretation.”
Article 1 of the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, absurd as the law may be, clearly states: “This Act is specially enacted for the purposes of ensuring the security and public welfare in the Taiwan Area, regulating dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, and handling legal matters arising therefrom before national unification.”
Setting aside the matter of whether “before national unification” has any significance in reality, the question is, how can a sovereign nation’s economic and trade relations be governed by a law that regulates “relations between peoples” of two areas?
That law is bizarre, just like the now defunct Temporary Provisions Effective during the Period of the Communist Rebellion (動員戡亂時期臨時條款), which flouted the spirit of a constitutional system.
The Ma administration has no intention of reviewing this law that threatens to erase the Republic of China (ROC) without a constitutional basis. Not only are Ma and his government emasculating the ROC’s sovereignty; they are fooling themselves and the public, and are happy to do so.
Steve Wang is an advisory committee member of Taiwan Thinktank.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
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