A cross-strait committee for economic cooperation was established on Thursday with the mission of assuring smooth implementation of the ECFA as well as supervising follow-up negotiations. The organization consists of 13 official representatives from each side, and its first regular meeting is expected to be held before March 12th.

The Straits Exchange Foundation and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits officially established a cross-strait economic cooperation committee to process ECFA-related issues on January 6th.

Both sides have agreed that committee members can be added or replaced in the future as needed.

Taiwan's 13 members include Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Financial Supervisory Commission officials, with Deputy Economic Affairs Minister Francis Liang assuming first chair.

China's first chair is Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei.

The DPP is condemning the formation of the committee, saying that it needs to be reviewed by the legislature and violates the constitution.

In response, Liang said that the committee is a mission-driven, function-driven platform for negotiations rather than a

As with international free trade pacts, a joint committee is often formed to handle post-signing negotiations.

Any future pacts or agreements signed between the two sides will need to be passed by the Legislative Yuan before being promulgated.

In accordance with ECFA stipulations, the first committee meeting will take place some time before March 12th.