The Cabinet has approved a draft bill aimed at strengthening the oversight of future agreements with China.
The draft legislation was passed on Thursday in response to criticism of a lack of transparency surrounding a controversial trade in services pact. The dispute over how to review the trade in services agreement with China has led to the ongoing student occupation of the legislature.
The draft bill, passed on Thursday, was proposed by the Mainland Affairs Council, which is Taiwan’s top China-policy maker. According to the draft law, the government must communicate with the legislature before and during negotiations for an agreement with China, as well as before and after signing such an agreement. Also, when negotiations have advanced to a certain degree, the contents of the proposed agreement must be subject to a national security review.
Another important provision in the draft law is that legislative committees must complete the review of agreements within three months. If the committees fail to do so, the agreements will be seen as having been reviewed. If agreements fail to pass legislative reviews, the government may reopen negotiations with China.