Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday called on the Executive Yuan to submit its planned cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) to legislative review.
Wang said the legislature didn’t have a chance to scrutinize the nine cross-strait agreements signed during the past two talks between Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
The government only invited leaders of the legislature’s three caucuses for discussion before signing the agreements and only reported to legislative committees afterward, Wang said, adding that the agreements all took effect one month after they were submitted to the legislature.
The Act Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) stipulates that cross-strait agreements will automatically take effect within one month after being referred to the legislature if the legislature doesn’t object to the agreements.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus has complained about the legislature not having an opportunity to review the content of the agreements.
“Premier Wu [Den-yih (吳敦義)] has said that the ECFA would be subject to scrutiny by the Legislative Yuan. If the legislature were to effectively supervise [the government, the ECFA] should be required to clear the legislative floor,” Wang said.
“Otherwise, the one-month deadline will soon come, and what can the legislature do to scrutinize [the ECFA] after that?” Wang said.
Wang did not say whether he meant the legislative oversight should come before or after the ECFA is signed.
Wang made the remarks yesterday after saying on Thursday that there was poor communication between the executive branch and the legislature regarding cross-strait affairs. Wang repeated his view that the legislature should organize a task force to supervise cross-strait affairs.
In related news, a survey yesterday suggested that six out of 10 Taiwanese are against an ECFA with China.
Out of more than 1,200 polled earlier this month, 59.7 percent opposed the planned pact, according to results released by National Taiwan University.
Only 34.7 percent supported the agreement, which the government has said will bring both higher growth and more jobs.
Just over 54 percent said they had no faith that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could protect public interest when negotiating with Beijing on the deal.
The government has been criticized for not explaining the agreement well enough, and the poll confirmed a high level of confusion about its implications. It showed 80.3 percent said they did not understand its content, against only 2.6 percent who said they did.
The Ma government says the agreement will boost the flow of goods and personnel between Taiwan and China and hopes it will be signed early next year. However, the DPP has criticized the pact, saying it would reduce Taiwan to the status of a local government in future talks with China.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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