A Legislative Yuan committee on ECFA?

We wish Mr. Ma will see to it that the Legislative Yuan does not create any select or special ECFA committee. One very apparent reason is that the committee is unneeded and, worse still, may interfere with the earliest possible conclusion of the agreement, without which Taiwan may be economically marginalized in the emerging free trade zone in Asia.

Another reason is that the committee, if ever created, would make our incompetent parliament even more incompetent. To be exact, the Legislative Yuan might be reduced to a do-nothing parliament or talkfest, the latter word giving the former its etymological origin. Remember what happened on the floor of the Legislative Yuan that continued the beef war across the Pacific? Lawmakers of both the Kuomintang and the opposition ganged up to effectively revoke a protocol signed in good faith between Taipei and Washington on the importation of American beef and beef products that may cause mad cow disease by a one-in-billions chance. Needless to say, the pact does not need ratification by the Legislative Yuan.

One may also question the legality of the committee that is being proposed. Isn't it an encroachment of the legislative power upon the executive power of the administration? Even if the ECFA were a full-fledged treaty under international law, the Legislative Yuan could only ratify or reject it in the due process of law. Lawmakers have nothing to do with the negotiations for and conclusion of any treaty. One example suffices. The U.S. Senate took a vote on November 19, 1919 on ratifying the Treaty of Versailles, and the “nays” won. Brought up for reconsideration next session, it once more failed by a two-thirds majority and on March 19, 1920 the Senate returned it to President Woodrow Wilson with formal notice of inability to ratify. Wilson signed the treaty to end the First World War and create the League of Nations. With the treaty turned down, the United States did not join the League Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations. In case President Ma comes under heavier fire and fails to resist the politicians demanding the creation of the committee, the Council of Grand Justices must be asked to clarify whether it is constitutional or not.

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