President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised to keep the negotiation process on signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China transparent, adding that he would minimize any damage the economic pact could have on the nation.
In a press conference held to deepen public understanding of the proposed agreement, Ma said the agenda for ECFA talks would include tariff reductions, protecting Taiwanese businessmen’s investments in China and protecting intellectual property rights.
Ma reiterated his promise to keep the public informed about the negotiation process and send agreements to the legislature for approval. However, Ma appeared to disagree about the need to set up a legislative task force to monitor cross-strait policies and negotiations, a request made by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
PHOTO: ROBIN CHANG, REUTERS
“The government is willing to be monitored, but we hope the job can be done by the legislature under the current constitutional system,” he said yesterday in the Presidential Office.
Ma said the Mainland Affairs Council and other government bodies are reporting on the negotiation process and its results to the caucus representative meeting convened by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) after each round of negotiations, and said this mechanism already functioned as a cross-strait “task force.”
Ma said the reason his administration wants the pact with Beijing is because China is Taiwan’s biggest trading partner and that once an ECFA is signed, barriers to Taiwan’s effort to sign FTAs with ASEAN countries would be reduced.
Ma said he realized it was not Beijing’s policy to help Taiwan ink FTAs with other countries, but said if Taiwan continues to be isolated internationally, it would be hard to boost cross-strait relations.
He acknowledged the ECFA would bring both opportunities and risks for the nation but reiterated that the government would take measures to minimize any damage.
These would include not opening Taiwan’s market to Chinese labor or relaxing import restrictions on agricultural products from China.
The government would also provide necessary assistance to local industries, he said.
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) and Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) accompanied Ma to the press conference.
When asked whether the government would follow the original schedule of inking the ECFA in May, Ma said there was no timetable for signing the pact, but said the government would ensure no political language was included in the pact.
“We will keep the ECFA economic and no political terms, such as ‘peaceful unification’ or ‘one country, two system’s will appear in the pact,” he said.
The government will continue to explain the ECFA to the public, Ma said, adding that Siew and Wu will visit southern Taiwan to speak to people in Taiwanese.
Meanwhile, Wu yesterday remained non-committal on the DPP request for a task force, repeating Ma’s comments that with the regular briefings lawmakers will be able to exercise effective legislative oversight.
Wu said that the executive branch might need to talk to lawmakers up to 10 times before completing the negotiations, with five briefings in legislative committees and the other five in informal settings with Wang and legislative caucus whips.
The scheduled meetings would provide for a high degree of participation by lawmakers to offer their opinions on the talks before negotiations for the deal are completed, Wu said.
Wu said the government would refer the negotiated draft deal to the legislature for deliberation after it is signed with the Chinese side.
“The draft deal will not take effect until the legislature approves it,” Wu said.
Wu said that the mechanism would ensure the highest degree of legislative oversight of administration on the basis of existing constitutional arrangements.
He said the establishment of a statutory task force was up for discussion, but added that if it was to be established, it should not impair the authority of the legislative session and legislative committees.
Responding to Ma’s comments, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the president had failed to allay public anxiety and suspicion that the treaty would adversely affect Taiwan.
“Ma’s explanation only contained government propaganda. He did not answer any key questions about the potential impacts of the pact,” Tsai told a press conference.
“We are very disappointed that Ma did not elaborate upon which industries and workers would be hurt under the deal and what the government can do to help them. He has not faced those problems seriously and honestly,” she said.
Ma said he would not allow Chinese agricultural products into the country in the short term but did not promise to ban them in the long term, she said, adding that as China offers benefits to Taiwan in the ECFA negotiations, it would ask Taiwan for reciprocation on political issues.
“If Ma really answered the key questions we raised, I might agree to a Ma-Tsai meeting as Ma has requested,” Tsai said. “I encourage Ma to hold more press conferences on the ECFA after this, and really communicate with the DPP and the public.”
She said as Taiwan prepared to enter the WTO, legislators were able to monitor the negotiation process so she repeated the request that Ma agree to a task force.
At a separate setting, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said although Ma offered promise after promise, opening markets required mutual effort.
Huang asked: “As Taiwanese products enter the Chinese market tariff-free, is Taiwan able to levy Chinese exported goods? And when all cross-strait trade is tariff-free, will Taiwan benefit from the treaty?”
Huang called on the government to sign FTAs with other countries before signing an ECFA, asking the government to ask Beijing to release its early harvest list to see what industries in Taiwan would be initially impacted.
Huang finally called for a national referendum on the ECFA.
In related news, the Taiwan Foreign Correspondent’s Club (TFCC) yesterday lodged a protest with the Presidential Office after being informed that foreign reporters would not be allowed to attend Ma’s briefing.
The directive is expected to apply to all subsequent monthly briefings. The TFCC was told that foreign correspondents would be able to watch in real time from the Presidential Office press room.
TFCC president Robin Kwong said he only learned of yesterday’s briefing a day earlier.
In a letter to the Presidential Office, Kwong wrote that the decision “set a regrettable and unhealthy precedent for future interactions between the Presidential Office and foreign press,” adding that ECFA negotiations “will have repercussions for those living beyond [Taiwan, who] have as much a right to know about what is happening as those primarily served by the local media.”
The arrangements for yesterday’s press conference were “unacceptable” and the TFCC would be “deeply outraged” if this were to become a template for future briefings on ECFA, Kwong said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY J. MICHAEL COLE
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