A Legislative Yuan committee on ECFA?

All our parliamentarians should certainly know what the separation of powers is. Their legislative power is to provide checks and balances, so they don't have any right to poke their profit-seeking noses into the negotiations for and conclusion of the ECFA, which, incidentally, isn't a treaty or agreement in the eyes of international law that requires ratification. As a matter of fact, the ECFA, if it is ever signed, doesn't need ratification at all. Mr. Ma has gone on the record by stating there is no timetable for the conclusion of the agreement, albeit he hopes it would be signed in the first half of this year. After it is inked, the agreement can and should go into force in accordance with the Law Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland (of China) Areas.

Well, the act that has a convoluted title stipulates the authorities in charge of executing anything like the ECFA “shall submit the draft agreement to the Executive Yuan for approval before its execution.” The law does not require the Cabinet to make a report before the nation's highest legislative organ prior to negotiations. Like in the case of concluding a treaty, flexibility and confidentiality are left in the hands of the executive authorities. Besides, there is no stipulation requiring an examination or a review by the legislative authorities who have no power to ratify the agreement signed not between two sovereign, independent states.

If its content requires any amendment to laws or any new legislation, according to the act, the executive authorities shall submit the agreement to the Legislative Yuan through the Executive Yuan for consideration within 30 days after the execution of the agreement. Should no amendment be necessary, the agreement should be submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval and to the Legislative Yuan for record, with a confidential procedure if necessary. One more stipulation reads: “If the Legislative Yuan fails to adopt any resolution within one month after the request (for record) during its session, the consent is deemed to be granted.” That means the agreement goes into force automatically.

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