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CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: Legislature could cancel transport deals: MAC

The agreements on creating a direct, two-way aviation route north of the Taiwan Strait and opening cross-strait sea transportation links would be nullified if the two deals were vetoed by the legislature, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said yesterday.

Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), the two bodies responsible for cross-strait dealings in the absence of official contacts, signed the two agreements and the other two deals on postal service and a food safety mechanism on Tuesday in Taipei.

“If the legislature reaches a resolution to reject the two agreements [on aviation routes and sea links], we will have to inform ARATS that it would need to renegotiate the deals,” Liu said.

But the two agreements would be considered implemented if the legislature fails to ratify or override within 30 days of receiving the request, he said.

Liu made the remarks at a press conference following the weekly Cabinet meeting, where the four cross-strait agreements were approved, citing articles 5 and 95 of the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).

Article 5 of the Act requires the Executive Yuan to refer the four agreements to the legislature for its reference and not for its deliberation as the contents of the four deals require no amendment to current laws and regulations, Liu said.

But Liu said the Executive Yuan is required by article 95 of the Act to obtain legislative ratification of the pacts on direct air and shipping before putting them into effect.

“It’s wrong to accuse the government of bypassing the legislative process to strike deals with [China,]” Liu said. “The legislature will not lose its power to supervise the government.”
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