The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday proposed an interparty legislative task force to monitor the government’s cross-strait policies and interaction with China.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that while the Ministry of Economic Affairs would soon brief Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators about the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, DPP legislators were to be excluded from the session.
“The KMT treats cross-strait relations as a family affair,” Ker said.
Ker said the DPP caucus wanted Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to convene talks this week on creating an interparty task force on cross-strait relations.
The task force would facilitate monitoring the government’s performance on sensitive cross-strait issues, he said.
Ker said the government’s signing important treaties with China without legislative approval had jeopardized the nation’s democratic system.
The DPP has asked that agreements with China be approved by the legislature and then put to a referendum before being signed, but the KMT will not cooperate, he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said he hopes Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) will discuss the possibility of signing an economic agreement while meeting Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) at the next round of cross-strait talks, which are expected in May or June.
Ker said the DPP was concerned that the government would not consult legislators about the ECFA before the talks in Beijing.
The four agreements signed in November by Chiang and Chen concerning food safety and direct cross-strait sea links, flights and postal service took effect in December without completing a legislative review.
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 automatically takes effect 30 days after being inked if the legislature does not reject it within that period.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said his party had reservations about creating a task force, depending on the purpose of the body.
If the goal would be to discuss an ECFA, he said, the legislature already has various committees to review aspects of the deal. Establishing a task force could undermine the committee system, Lin said.
Lin said the DPP needed to explain why a task force was needed.
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