Apollo Chen pushes MAC to become less secretive

KMT lawmaker Apollo Chen (陳學聖) pledged yesterday that he would push for a revision to the Statute Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) in the coming session to make the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) policies more transparent.

Chen made the remark at a press conference yesterday, during which he complained that the MAC had kept the content of the newly signed Taiwan-Hong Kong Aviation Accord confidential.

Negotiators from Taiwan's central government and Hong Kong airlines struck the deal last month.

Chen said the accord, being the first such agreement the DPP government has signed with China, is important to the public and is of immense political significance because many consider it to be a prototype for direct links.

The KMT lawmaker declared the MAC had no right to avoid the supervision of the Legislative Yuan by making the accord a classified document.

He also said that the MAC had conducted a "black box operation" and forged "a secret treaty."

Cheng An-kuo (鄭安國), former chairman of the MAC, was with Chen at the conference.

Cheng said that although the process of negotiation could be kept confidential, the finished accord itself must be made public.

He added that it was puzzling why the DPP government insisted on keeping the content of the accord confidential.

Cheng said that when the KMT was in power, the public could look up the content of aviation accords on government Web sites.

However, Miao Hui-feng (苗蕙芬), head of the MAC's Department of Information and Liaison, denied Cheng's allegation.

Miao said it was impossible to trace the contents of government Web sites prior to when the DPP assumed power.

Under Taiwanese law, legislators do not have the right to investigate the executive branch's negotiations with foreign parties.

According to the Statute Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, the Legislative Yuan is entitled to know the policies of the MAC if and only if those policies are contrary to Taiwanese law, thus necessitating the amendment of laws.

Miao said that the accord had been signed on June 30, while the Legislative Yuan began its recess on June 21.

She said that although the content of the accord was classified, the MAC is willing to share information with those who are entitled to know.

Miao added that a closed-door meeting with members of the committee of transportation and the committee of the interior will be held tomorrow.