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Ma too eager to sign ECFA, former top negotiator says

“The administration must realize that negotiating is always a means and not the objective. Unfortunately, it considers negotiation as the goal.” — Chang Jung-feng, former National Security Council deputy secretary-general

Impatience has put President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration in an unfavorable position when it comes to negotiating an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with Beijing, a former top negotiator said yesterday.

Chang Jung-feng (張榮豐), who served as National Security Council deputy secretary-general during Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) presidency, said that it was important to strengthen the “best alternative to a negotiated agreement” before negotiating with Beijing.

Taking the example of both sides’ bids to join the WTO, Chang said Taipei had Washington’s backing that if Beijing obstructed Taiwan’s bid, Washington would strike down Beijing’s attempt to join the organization.

To be impatient only puts Taiwan in an adverse position when negotiating with Beijing, Chang said, adding that it was “stupid” for the administration to show its eagerness to sign the proposed pact by revealing its deadline.

“The administration must realize that negotiating is always a means and not the objective,” he said. “Unfortunately, it considers negotiation as the goal. It seems it does not care about the content of the agreement, as long as there is one.”

The Ma administration has expressed the hope that it can sign the planned pact by next year.

Likening signing of an ECFA to buying a house, Chang said the buyer would put himself in a bad position if he or she sent out invitations to a house warming party before the house had been purchased because the buyer would then have to pay whatever price has been offered to obtain the property.

Chang said the administration should also have taken advantage of legislative supervision.

Emphasizing the importance of procedural negotiations leading to actual talks, Chang said the negotiations were the decisive battle because that was when the agenda was set, compromises were made and bottom lines were revealed.

Before both sides began negotiating, Chang said the administration must have thorough information and analysis of Beijing’s negotiation team, strategy and options.

Both the administration and Beijing have expressed the hope that they can sign a peace agreement, but Chang said since both sides were no longer in military conflict, the peace agreement Beijing wanted was political in nature and it could easily be used to persuade Washington to stop selling weapons to Taiwan.
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