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Deals with ARATS take effect today, KMT caucus says

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said the four agreements signed by Taiwan and China early last month would take effect today, even though they have not completed the review process in the legislature.

“The four agreements will automatically take effect [tomorrow], but the KMT caucus will still put them on the agenda of the legislative sessions to complete the review process,” KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said yesterday.

Article 95 of the Statute Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) stipulates that a cross-strait agreement takes effect automatically 30 days after being inked if the legislature fails to reject it.

Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) signed four agreements in Taipei concerning direct sea transport, flights and postal services, along with food safety.

On Thursday, the agreements passed a joint committee meeting after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators left the meeting in protest of KMT lawmakers blocking most of the resolutions they proposed appending to the agreements.

The agreements could then have been put on the agenda of next Friday’s session to undergo second and third readings and complete the review process, but the KMT caucus chose not to schedule it for the session.

DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) accused the KMT of deliberately delaying the review to deny the DPP caucus an opportunity to question the four agreements.

Preventing a complete legislative review was equivalent to downgrading the legislature, which represented the nation’s sovereignty, she said.

Chiu said that it was questionable whether Article 95 should apply to the four agreements.

Lin dismissed Chiu’s criticism, but added that his caucus would like to see the four agreements complete the review process despite their having already taken effect.

Also on Thursday, the committee meeting passed a resolution requiring the government to revise the law to carry out the four agreements, but the Executive Yuan has not drawn up the proposed amendments.
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