Lawmakers pessimistic over ECFA review
The China Post - Sunday, July 4, 2010
Lawmakers pessimistic over ECFA review
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The majority and minority leaders of the Legislature both expressed pessimism over the prospect of reaching an agreement in their upcoming talks on how lawmakers should review the freshly signed cross-strait trade pact.
Ruling Kuomintang whip Lin Hung-chih said the two sides are unlikely to reach a conclusion in tomorrow’s talks about the possibility of letting lawmakers revise the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
His opposition counterpart Ker Chien-ming from the Democratic Progressive Party predicted “stormy” talks with no chance of reaching a consensus.
The KMT is looking to only have the Legislature’s plenary meeting conduct a final vote to either endorse or reject the ECFA as a whole without making changes to its content.
But the DPP is demanding that individual clauses of the ECFA be reviewed one by one at committee meetings where lawmakers could revise them.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng has arranged a round of talks tomorrow between the KMT and DPP lawmakers trying to iron out their differences.
Lin insisted that the ECFA is a “treaty-like” agreement that cannot be revised.
He said the KMT is determined to pass the ECFA no matter the DPP’s actions.
But Ker said the procedures must be agreed upon before the actual review session starts.
The dispute stems from the ambiguous status of the ECFA, which is by definition not a treaty between two nations, as neither Taipei nor Beijing formally recognizes the other as a sovereign country.
The KMT side argues that the ECFA — singed on June 29 with China — is comparable to a treaty, which cannot be revised.
But the DPP has pointed out that the Legislature has in the past conducted committee reviews on trade treaties signed with foreign countries.
A government official said the Cabinet hopes that the Legislature will endorse the ECFA by late August to facilitate its implementation Jan. 1, 2011, according to the Central News Agency.
The legislature is currently in its summer recess, and it is planning to hold a one-week special legislative session from July 7 to handle the ECFA.
Meanwhile, Speaker Wang denied that he was having a dispute with President Ma Ying-jeou over the ECFA review.
Ma has emphasized the integrity of the ECFA, which he said could be rejected but not revised. But Wang has so far refused to openly support Ma’s call.
Wang said he has only emphasized that the ECFA review must be supported by an inter-party agreement.
The speaker revealed that his office has received numerous complaint calls from Ma supporters, jamming all telephone lines.
He said he respects people’s opinions, but asked them to stop jamming his phone lines.
Wang said Ma called him Tuesday night, asking him not to care too much about the rumors.
One of the rumors claimed that the DPP was trying to team up with Wang to block the ECFA.
