Let the blackmail begin

The China Times editorial have of late been a gold mine for my middle-of-the-night musings on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed between Taiwanese and Chinese semi-official agencies last week. Between stories in the office last night, I came upon an op-ed that basically argued that if the legislature were to make any changes to the ECFA document while it “reviews” it, it would risk derailing the whole trade pact — and cross-strait relations  — in the process. In other words, according to the China Times, the legislature had better not do its job and should pass the ECFA as a whole, quirks and all.

The opinion piece also argued that making changes to the ECFA document would set a bad precedent (something President Ma Jing-jeou himself argued last week) and put at risk Taiwan’s ability to sign free-trade agreements with other countries — as if other countries looked askance upon legislative bodies doing what they’re supposed to be doing, that is, ensure that pacts, treaties and agreements signed by the executive are not detrimental to the interests of the constituents who brought them into office in the first place.

What’s even more worrying is that the person(s) writing this is/are Taiwanese. But then again, anything coming from the China Times Group nowadays reads like something scripted back in Beijing. The ECFA blackmail begins …