President Ma Ying-jeou urged the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Sunday not to boycott discussion in the Legislative Yuan on the pros and cons of a proposed wide-reaching trade pact with China. In a televised debate with DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen, Ma expressed regret over what he called the opposition party's repeated obstructions of reports by government officials on the initiative to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China. Stressing the importance of such a deal to Taiwan's future economic development, Ma said officials of his administration have been more than willing to brief DPP lawmakers on the ECFA's essence and draft content. DPP lawmakers, however, had repeatedly boycotted such sessions in the legislature, he said. In a mature democratic country, Ma said, the legislature should be a key venue for policy debate. Instead of blaming the government for keeping the opposition party in the dark on the pact, Ma urged Tsai to order DPP lawmakers not to hinder legislative hearings on ECFA issues anymore. Ma, however, failed to respond to Tsai's question on whether his administration has any alternative plan if ECFA talks with China break down. Accusing the Ma administration of creating a false sense of urgency in concluding such a critical agreement with China, Tsai said that China may have ulterior motives for making unilateral concessions to Taiwan in ECFA talks. She also advised the Ma administration to prepare a detailed package of measures to cope with the situation if it fails to realize its goal of striking such a deal in the first half of this year as scheduled. 