On Friday, when members of the Legislative Yuan were scheduled to ratify four historic agreements reached earlier this month between our Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and Beijing’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), the DPP caucus insisted that the bill be returned to the Procedure Committee for further review before the vote could be taken. While the Kuomintang and its allies control nearly three-quarters of seats and could have rammed the bill through without the DPP, the ruling party agreed to send the bill back to committee as a concession to the DPP.

The KMT’s decision to temporarily halt consideration of the bill was wise, since DPP members are under pressure from their constituents to express their objections to closer cross-strait ties. This concession will enable DPP lawmakers to cope with their constituents, while also permitting the KMT to eventually pass the bill. However, the KMT will also be wise to quickly move the bill out of committee and send it back for a final vote and passage.

The DPP’s objections to the four agreements, covering air transportation, sea transportation, postal links and safety of food products, is opposition for the sake of opposition.

Just half a year ago when the DPP’s own Chen Shui-bian was still president, the DPP’s own policy was to seek the very same things that were obtained in the just-concluded SEF-ARATS negotiations.

As early as March of 2000, when Chen was first elected and before he was sworn into office for his first term, Chen had announced that he would seek to implement the so-called “three links” with mainland China. Since earlier this year, when the DPP lost power in the presidential election and lost dozens of seats in the legislative election, the DPP has agitated its supporters by drumming up accusations of disloyalty and treason against the ruling KMT.

Every time something occurs that could improve relations with mainland China, the DPP accuses the government of President Ma Ying-jeou of “selling out” Taiwan’s sovereignty and interests for the sake of pleasing communists in Beijing.

If the DPP’s rhetoric is to be believed, Ma is a traitor because he has permitted the SEF to sign agreements meeting the same objectives that Chen wanted just several months ago. However, nothing in the four agreements reached between the SEF and ARATS deal with sensitive issues related to sovereignty.

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