The Executive Yuan's version of a bill for closer monitoring of agreements between Taiwan and mainland China will bring greater transparency to cross-strait negotiations, safeguard national security, and will be more feasible in practice, Premier Jiang said at today's Cabinet meeting.
After hearing the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) summary of the draft bill, which cleared the Cabinet and was submitted to the Legislative Yuan last week, Jiang explained that the bill integrates a four-stage communication and consultation mechanism with a two-stage national security screening system. It conforms to the Constitution's definition of cross-strait relations and the principle of separation of power between executive and legislative branches, he added.
The premier asked the MAC and relevant agencies to step up communication with ruling and opposition legislative caucuses and civic groups to gain support and finish the bill's legislation procedure as soon as possible.
The MAC also gave a detailed analysis of the other versions of the bill proposed by opposition parties and civic groups, after which the premier instructed the MAC and relevant agencies to promptly clarify any unfounded criticism or misleading reports about the Executive Yuan's version.
In a version put forward by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu, the wording in article 2 creates a significant constitutional problem by referring to the two signatories as the "Republic of China in Taiwan" and the "People's Republic of China on the mainland."
"One cannot use the cross-strait agreements monitoring law to sneak in changes to a country's name or identity. A major issue such as this cannot be sidestepped and must be faced head on," the premier said.
The premier also opposed suggestions that Taiwan follow the United States' negotiation model and allow representatives from the Legislative Yuan to participate in the agreement negotiation process. "MAC Minister Wang Yu-chi has explained in his report that the U.S. Constitution places the right to negotiate trade pacts under the jurisdiction of the Congress, which in turn authorizes the executive branch to act on its behalf. This gives rise to fast track negotiating authority." said Jiang.
"According to the ROC Constitution, however, the executive branch is endowed with the right to negotiate treaties and agreements. If the Legislative Yuan is given the authority to determine the negotiation contents and amend such pacts, but asks the Executive Yuan to carry out the negotiations, this will run counter to the ROC Constitution's principle of power separation, even if it looks similar to the United States' system," pointed out the premier.
Jiang illustrated his point with an example: Each year the Executive Yuan prepares its annual administrative plan and budget to be sent to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation. If the executive branch were to wait for legislative approval on each individual administrative plan before formulating the annual administrative plan and budget, it would violate the constitutional principle of separation of powers between the two branches.
The premier reiterated that the Executive Yuan is the nation's highest administrative organ and gives its subordinate agencies the authority to carry out their duties. This is why the cross-strait agreements monitoring law must conform to the stipulations of the Constitution.
Aside from the oversight law, Premier Jiang reminded the ministers to continue building support from lawmakers and the public on two major pieces of cross-strait legislation—the agreements on trade in services and trade in goods. The services pact, for instance, involves many different ministries. If there is any public criticism toward the pact, the responsible ministry and related agencies should come forward promptly and present a comprehensive explanation and unified response.