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CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: Groups slam legislative failings

Several groups of activists staged a protest outside the legislature yesterday, denouncing the legislature for relinquishing its authority to participate in cross-strait negotiations n Taipei between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).

“The legislature is the highest representative of the people. It should have a say in the cross-strait talks, but it doesn’t. We are here to protest against the legislature’s waiver of its constitutional right,” said Mary Chen (陳曼麗), head of the National Union of Taiwan Women Association.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), whom she said should be involved in formulating key national policies, was bypassed altogether, Chen said.

Chen was protesting with several other member organizations of Citizen Congress Watch (CCW), a legislative watchdog.

Citing Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 520, CCW said it was the legislature’s right to participate in the decision-making process on critical national issues, a ruling that has been confirmed by the Council of Grand Justices.

Wearing masks representing Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin, right, and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, center, members of Citizen Congress Watch perform a skit in front of the legislature in Taipei yesterday to demand that agreements reached at the Chiang-Chen meeting be subject to approval by the legislature. PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

“The legislature should activate its task force on supervising cross-strait affairs to reveal the details of the cross-strait negotiations,” CCW executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said.

He added that any cross-strait agreement involving the rights and obligations of the public could not be implemented without legislative approval.

TASK FORCE

The legislature established the task force to supervise cross-strait affairs in November 2000. Regulations stipulate that the panel must be composed of 25 members, with each legislative caucus holding a number of seats based on its number of legislative seats.

However, the task force has not played an active role in cross-strait affairs.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus also joined the protesters’ demand that the four agreements on shipping, aviation, postal services and food safety signed by the SEF and ARATS be sent to the legislature for approval.

DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) told a press conference that the party strongly opposed the agreement that cross-strait flights would no longer pass through a third flight information region, leaving the international community with the impression that they are domestic, rather than international routes.

DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that the based on the agreement on food safety, Taiwan would have to accept inspection results from China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Kuan warned that Taiwanese could not put their trust in the Chinese organization as it had approved the export of so many toxic foods.

Three former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) heads — DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) — criticized the agreements at a press conference yesterday.

Slamming the aviation agreement as a domestication of flights, Chen Ming-tong said the Chinese national carrier Air China would not be required to first touch down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and could land at any domestic airport directly, whereas Taiwan’s China Airlines would not be granted the same rights.

He also said the shipping agreement was unclear, saying the “devil is in the detail.”

While Tsai stressed the agreement could only go into effect after the legislature approves it, Chen Ming-tong said the “three links” — postal, air and shipping — were important issues and that if the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had faith in the agreements, it should put the issue to a referendum and give the public a chance to decide.

The government has given away too much in the areas of sovereignty and national security and it is hard to see how this has benefitted Taiwan, he said.

He said that Ma had given away too much, too soon.

At a separate setting, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said the four agreements reached yesterday were secret deals between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), adding that the legislature and the public have had no chance to supervise the proceedings.

The details of the talks must be made public and transparent, Huang said.

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday he did not believe any of the items on the agenda of the cross-strait negotiations touched on the sovereignty issue.

“The Chiang-Chen meeting touched on issues that relate to the public’s life, such as direct air and shipping links, and were also on the agenda of [DPP Chairwoman] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) when she was MAC chairwoman,” Liu said.

Liu was referring to the meeting between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).

‘SPECIAL ROUTES’

Liu called the negotiated flight routes “special routes,” adding that they would not pose any threat to national security as the government had considered the Ministry of National Defense’s position during the talks.

“In the past, [cross-strait talks] were held in a third country or China. This is the first time the meeting is being held in our country. The whole process of negotiation has been placed under the supervision of the people. This is better than holding the talks in a third country,” Liu said.

In related developments, KMT Legislator Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠) and DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) proposed an impromptu motion during the legislature’s plenary session yesterday afternoon to invite Chiang, MAC Chairman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), SEF Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) and other government ministers to report on the four cross-strait agreements at a special joint meeting at the legislature to help the public gain a better understanding of the agreements.

The motion is still pending review by the legislature.

Regarding former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) call for legislative scrutiny of the negotiations between the SEF and ARATS and a national referendum on any agreement concerning the government’s political authority, the MAC said the issues discussed at the cross-strait negotiations were set by the former Chen Shui-bian administration.

The negotiation process was conducted in accordance with due process and supervised by the legislature, the MAC said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
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