Taiwan and China signed what is known as the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement in Shanghai on June 21, and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party is getting ready to start a new trade war between Taipei and Beijing, akin to the American beef and pork wars of 2010 and 2012.

Shortly before the pact was signed, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang said President Ma Ying-jeou should call a halt to the signing, because the general public opposes it. Should it be signed, he threatened, his opposition party would “scrutinise it thoroughly” in the Legislative Yuan. His predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, described the agreement as one concluded after “closed-door negotiations”.

“The government is being submissive to China while being assertive to domestic voices; Taiwanese society cannot accept this type of disparity in policy implementation,” she said.

Loyal to the two party leaders, Ker Chien-ming, the DPP legislative caucus whip, has made arrangements with Wang Jin-pyng, speaker of the Legislative Yuan, that the agreement, once referred to the Legislature for review, will be scrutinized, probably requiring a vote on it article by article. Cross-strait agreements, unlike treaties signed between sovereign states, are not subject to ratification. They are just filed with the Legislative Yuan for reference. But when the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement was signed, it was reviewed, scrutinized and passed by a vote on it as a whole. The Mainland Affairs Council, the competent agency responsible for the implementation of the agreement, hopes the trade service pact will fare as ECFA did in 2010.

The agreement will be passed at a regular Cabinet meeting on Thursday before it is referred to the Legislature, while the opposition party is collecting all data on the ill effects of the accord for every concerned service industry as part of kicking off a trade war, reminiscent of the 2010 war over American BSE (bovine spongiform encephalitis) contaminated beef products and the 2012 war over U.S. pork with residue of the feed additive ractopamine.

The war over imports of beef from cattle suspected of having BSE or mad cow disease touched off by the signing of an agreement took more than two years to end after the Legislative Yuan adopted a series of sanctions. It was so fierce that Su Chi had to resign as secretary-general of the National Security Council to take responsibility. The 2012 war was no less fierce, with opposition party lawmakers besieging the Conference Hall of the Legislative Yuan for days and nights to prevent parliamentary action on the government bill to lift the ban on U.S. ractopamine-containing pork.

Like in the past two trade wars, Kuomintang lawmakers may join their opposition party counterparts in agitating for revision of the service trade agreement. Their ego was hurt, because MAC officials kept them in the dark about what kind of a service trade pact would be signed. Lai Shyh-bao, the KMT legislative caucus whip, complained that Wang Yu-chi, MAC chairman, came to see him for only five minutes to say when the pact would be signed, but did not inform him of what service industries would be affected and how. Wang Jin-pying made a similar complaint. Other ruling party legislators are griping that the new MAC chairman, unlike predecessor Lai Hsing-yuan, simply has ignored them. Lai regularly briefed them on the progress of negotiations for the signing of ECFA in 2010.

Of course, unlike ECFA, which is full of Chinese concessions, the service trade agreement is full of give and take. Some service industries in Taiwan certainly would be adversely affected, but there are gains, too. However, one thing is clear: the service trade pact is needed to further strengthen trade relations between the two sides of the strait. It is an indispensable trade accord, and the war over its “ratification” will affect the progress of negotiations for the conclusion of another agreement on trade in goods, which is much more complicated though just as indispensable as the one already inked.

Politicians in opposition must overcome their deeply rooted prejudice against the KMT to consider talking peace rather than war over the “ratification” of the newly signed agreement on trade in services across the strait. It is hoped that Wang Yu-chi will not be fired like Su Chi five years ago.

(The China Post (Taiwan))

(Asia News Network)