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Legislature sends agreements for review

Democratic Progressive Party legislators hold up signs and protest at the legislature yesterday against the four agreements signed earlier this month by Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung and Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin. PHOTO: CNA

The legislature yesterday voted to send the four cross-strait agreements signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and other Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-proposed amendments aimed at enhancing cross-strait ties to a preliminary review stage.

Yesterday’s move will not assure a smooth passage for the bills, however, as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus said that it was considering freezing the referral by proposing a motion to reconsider the bills.

In accordance with legislative procedure, a motion of reconsideration on yesterday’s vote is permissible before Dec. 1.

DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said that the caucus would try to freeze the amendments to the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), but not the four new cross-strait agreements.

Stalling the four agreements in a procedural way would not help block their passage as the KMT could cite Article 95 of the Statute.

This states that the four agreements would automatically take effect 30 days after the legislature received them from the Executive Yuan, Lai said.

During yesterday’s session, the DPP failed to win a vote asking the Executive Yuan to send agreement-related amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法); the Statute Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area; the Income Tax Law (所得稅法) and the Value-Added and Non Value-Added Business Tax Act (加值型與非加值型營業稅法) to the legislature for deliberation along with the agreements.

“We will continue to raise the demand when the agreements are reviewed at the committee stage,” Lai said.

DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said that the party was opposed any further opening to China under the framework of the four agreements.

Pan said that it would negatively affect the country’s economy and damage Taiwan’s sovereignty.

KMT legislative caucus whip Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) lashed out at the DPP caucus for what he called its “irrational” objections to all amendments to the cross-strait statutes.

“One of the amendments was designed to bring more Taiwanese capital back for investment in Taiwan. The DPP should tell the public why it opposed such an initiative,” Lo said.
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