Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou defends transparency of trade pact

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou Wednesday denied accusations that the handling of a cross-Strait service pact was done behind closed doors and insisted that it had gone through full scrutiny.

Also chairman of the ruling KMT, Ma said the authority had held 110 meetings to negotiate with representatives of 46 service sectors before the pact was inked. A total of 144 briefings, attended by more than 7,900 people, and 20 public hearings were also held after the signing.

"Never in the history have we held 20 public hearing for a bill. With such strict examinations, how can it be accused of lacking transparency?" Ma said at a weekly meeting of the KMT.

The standoff between the authority and hundreds of students who had occupied the legislative building entered the eighth day. The students have been protesting about what they see as undemocratic rules used by the KMT to ratify the pact and are worried about its effect on the local economy.

Ma on Tuesday expressed his willingness to hold talks with students "without any preconditions" to solve the impasse and allow the legislative body to resume its work.

In response, student leader Lin Fei-fan agreed to the talk, but later rephrased the statement, saying they were expecting more sincerity from Ma before any negotiation could take place.

Signed in June last year as a follow-up to the 2010 Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), the service trade agreement aims to open up 80 of the mainland's service sectors to Taiwan and 64 Taiwan sectors to the mainland.