The Legislative Yuan should be represented in negotiations with China on the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), a legislative research report said yesterday.
To ensure that the agreement, which is similar to a free-trade agreement, meets Taiwan＊s national interests and reflects public opinion, the report said, the legislature should be allowed to take part in relevant policy formulation.
The report, authored by the Legislative Yuan＊s Organic Law and Statute Bureau, said that a communication platform should be created between the executive and legislative branches to facilitate discussions on ECFA-related matters.
The signing of an ECFA is controversial. While President Ma Ying-jeou (堜褙朐) and his administration believe it is important to help Taiwan maintain its competitiveness, especially as China plans to sign similar agreements with other countries, opponents fear it could hurt Taiwanese industries by flooding the nation with tariff-free Chinese goods and make Taiwan more economically dependent on China.
As an ECFA is the most important economic issue, and is closely related to the formulation of fiscal, economic and trade policies, the legislature is entitled to participate in policy formulation before ECFA negotiations get underway, the report said.
Since the proposed ECFA agreement covers short, medium and long-term market opening measures, negotiations will take time to complete, the report said. It added that the executive and legislative branches should therefore forge a dialogue platform and work in concert to pursue the best possible deal for the country and its people at they negotiate the accord with China.
Given the broad coverage and complexity of the proposed agreement, the report suggested that the Executive Yuan should inform the legislature of any progress or decisions in the ECFA＊s planning and consultative stages.
Protecting Taiwan＊s overall interests should be the top priority in ECFA negotiations, the report said, adding that sustainable industrial development and trade remedies should be prioritized in negotiations.
The report also said it is important that the ECFA integrates a comprehensive food safety inspection and compensation 〝mechanism. Such a mechanism would be aimed at protecting Taiwanese consumers in case of problems involving Chinese food imports.
Although Taiwan and China signed a food-safety agreement following China＊s tainted milk scandal last year, the accord does not contain any concrete measures regarding compensation, the report said.
The report said that existing laws and statutes have not fleshed out a clear and effective mechanism for the legislature to oversee the negotiations and signing of cross-strait agreements.
To address such a deficiency, the legislative report said that either special legislation should be enacted or the existing Act Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (欳颮嬣硠弮沭蟘秷) should be revised to that effect.
Meanwhile, while Taipei and Beijing have agreed to hold the next round of high-level cross-strait talks in Taiwan by the end of the year, the two sides have not finalized the details, including the time and place.
A former senior official at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said that bilateral negotiations were suspended in the wake of Typhoon Morakot and the sides have not engaged in preparatory negotiations on the planned meeting between Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (阭黹俅) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (蠊磩釱).
The official said both sides agreed to hold the Chiang-Chen meeting by the end of the year, but it was too early to tell whether it would happen next month as many media outlets had speculated.
Progress has been made, however, in talks about the topics of the upcoming meeting, he said. The two sides will address fishing industry cooperation, quality checks for agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in inspection and certification and the prevention of double taxation.
While Chen yesterday said that the upcoming high-level talks would be held as soon as both sides are ready, former MAC secretary-general Jan Jyh-horng (轙礞拹) dismissed it as ※rubbish,§ saying what it meant was neither side was ready.
Chen said both sides have been in contact concerning the negotiations on an ECFA and that talks will happen if the Chiang-Chen meeting is fully prepared.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS