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
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS