Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) urged the DPP not to politicize the cross-strait economic agreements.
Yang said the Fifth Freedom of the Air needed to be negotiated “in proper sequence” in future cross-strait talks.
“We will work toward the [fifth] freedom while both sides of the Taiwan Strait remain at peace. We hope our friends at the DPP will stop politicizing economic issues,” she told a press conference.
She also urged the government to focus on improving the quality of the nation’s tourism industry to attract more tourists from China.
When approached for comment, KMT Legislator Chang Hsieh-yao (張顯耀), a member of the Foreign and National Defense Committee, said the third round of cross-strait talks had been successful because progress had been made in terms of regular cross-strait charter flights, cross-strait financial cooperation and crime-fighting.
Chang dismissed media speculation that China had dominated the talks, saying that “domination only happens during negotiations, but this was a meeting.”
When asked for comment on the omission of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) on the agenda for future talks, KMT Legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said it was more important for politicians across party lines to reach a consensus regarding an ECFA.
Wu said the KMT respected the DPP’s plan to hold the May 17 rally, but he urged the DPP to respect those who would not join the demonstration.
Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) called for transparency in cross-strait negotiations, saying they must be conducted under legislative supervision.
Lu said she was curious to know who authorized Chiang to negotiate with Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and why the public was kept in the dark about the content of the three agreements. Lu made the remarks before attending a panel discussion on Taiwan’s sovereignty at her office yesterday morning.
Lu said cross-strait negotiations, regardless of the scope or nature of the issue, must be conducted in a transparent fashion.
Before negotiations, Lu said, the issue and content of any agreement should be made public and the government should seek a public consensus.
After an agreement has been signed, it must undergo legislative oversight, she said.
Without legislative oversight, Lu said, there was no justice and the agreement should be deemed invalid.
She urged the public to scrutinize the entire process of cross-strait negotiations.
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