Lawmaker Ker Chien-ming, the DPP's legislative caucus whip told a press conference the opposition's patience is wearing thin, and action is being taken to usher in a permanent working group in the Legislative Yuan to closely monitor how the administration conducts relations between both sides of the Strait.

It is Wang Jin-pyng, Kuomintang speaker of the parliament, who took the initiative to found the committee.

Initial agreement was reached between the Kuomintang and opposition on creating a working group of lawmakers last month.

In fact, a draft bill for the organization of the committee was completed, Ker said. "But it hit a snag, because the administration opposes it," he added.

Lin Yih-shih, Ker's Kuomintang counterpart, refused to comment, but sources close to Wu Po-hsiung, chairman of the ruling party, said the administration raised opposition to the draft bill.

In particular, the Mainland Affairs Council does not want the draft bill adopted without some fundamental amendment. The MAC is the decision-making Cabinet agency charged with the conduct of relations between Taiwan and China, with the Straits Exchange Foundation as its executive arm.

"We can't wait any longer," Ker said. "We are preparing our own bill, which we will be able to propose to the Legislative Yuan next week at the latest," he declared.

Some Kuomintang legislators believe a proposed oversight committee is a violation of the principle of separation of powers.

"As members of the Legislative Yuan," one Kuomintang heavyweight said, "we already oversee the executive branch of government, but the proposed bill seems to enable the legislative branch to participate in the decision-making in policies regarding the conduct of cross-strait relations."

No details of the draft bill have been made public, but Kuomintang lawmakers are convinced the Legislative Yuan is willing and ready to participate in the decision-making as well as implementation of China policy.

"That violates the sanctified principle of separation of powers," another Kuomintang heavyweight said.

Indications are that even if the opposition party proposed its draft bill, Kuomintang lawmakers would either boycott it or greatly water it down.

The ruling party has a virtual three-fourths majority in the nation's highest legislative organ.