Links 19 10 09

• KMT will back expanded cross-strait relations. really? Tomorrow's headline: Pope reaffirms belief in Catholicism and confirms that bears really do relieve themselves in arboreal environments.
• CCW Watchdog argues for more reforms - they point out the ever so undemocratic law that allows cross-strait agreements to automatically become law if the legislature fails to reject them.

The legislative watchdog said in a press release that it expected Ma to allow the legislature to approve or reject the content of any cross-strait agreements signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), instead of allowing the agreements to take effect automatically.

The group was referring to Article 95 of the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), which stipulates that a cross-strait agreement takes effect automatically 30 days after being inked if the legislature fails to reject it.

The pacts signed during the second and third rounds of talks between the SEF and ARATS last year and earlier this year all took effect automatically even though the mechanism had drawn criticism.

“The legislature should review the content of every cross-strait agreement. As the fourth round of cross-strait talks approaches, whether or not [the government] should sign an ECFA [economic cooperation framework agreement] with China has become the subject of debate,” the group said.

The watchdog group urged Ma to listen to civic groups instead of insisting on pushing through party-proposed amendments or bills such as the rural revitalization act (農村再生條例) and a proposed amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).

• Excellent letter on China and democratisation in the TT today - read and then reconsider the plan for Taiwan's democracy to slowly bring democracy to China by example.