Cabinet hopes ECFA can be passed by late August
FocusNews Taiwan
Cabinet hopes ECFA can be passed by late August
By Y.F. Low
3 July 2010
Taipei, July 3 (CNA) Despite a partisan dispute over procedural issues, the Executive Yuan hopes that the legislature will pass the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China by late August to facilitate its implementation Jan. 1, 2011, an official said Saturday.
The agreement, which was signed June 29, was approved by the Executive Yuan Thursday and forwarded immediately to the Legislative Yuan for review.
As the legislature is currently in its summer recess, it is planning to a hold a one-week special legislative session from July 7, mainly to deal with the agreement.
However, there have been concerns that political wrangling might impede the session’s proceedings, in light of the differences between the party caucuses on the procedure for reviewing the ECFA.
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which is against the ECFA, insists that the agreement should be screened clause-by-clause. However, the ruling Kuomintang believes the legislature does not have the power to unilaterally alter the agreement and can only endorse or reject it in its entirety.
According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, there are precedents in which free trade agreements (FTAs) signed between Taiwan and other countries have been reviewed clause-by-clause in the legislature, although their contents were not changed.
The FTAs are with Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras, the official noted while urging the legislators to sort out their differences on the issue.
Lin Hung-chih, a KMT caucus whip, said his caucus hopes inter-party negotiations will be held on the ECFA in the upcoming special session.
A second special session could be held one month later, when the negotiation deadline is over, to pass the agreement, Lin said.
Meanwhile, Ker Chien-ming, head of the DPP’s policy committee, reiterated his party’s stance that the controversy over the ECFA-screening method must first be resolved in the upcoming special session before the legislature can begin screening the agreement.
