Cashing in on their numerical superiority, the opposition parties last night forced through crucial legal revisions that the DPP government warned would hamper its smooth and effective functioning.
During a marathon session that started yesterday morning and will last until this morning, the opposition alliance -- despite protests from DPP legislators -- made law a proposal to allow Taiwanese people to enter China via offshore islands.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Outgoing KMT lawmaker Chao Erh-chung (
DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) sarcastically painted the reform as the last work of Chao, as he lost his seat representing the outlying island of Kinmen in the Dec. 1 elections.
Opposition lawmakers also succeeded in pushing through a disputed legal overhaul that will enable local governments to keep a greater share of tax revenues. Led by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
But top government statistician Lin Chuan (
Ma called a news conference at 10pm to thank the lawmaking body for adopting the legislation. Earlier in the day, chaotic wrangling virtually paralyzed the legislature, as lawmakers eager to push their pet bills up the agenda bickered over the order of business hammered out by caucus leaders.
Responding to a top mobilization order, over 130 lawmakers of all political stripes took part in the session. The high attendance rate did little to expedite the legislative process that was frequently disrupted by members whose bills risk being scrapped because they are not branded "priority."
The current session will fold before noon today, as the legislature has set aside the afternoon for outgoing legislators to deliver their farewell speeches.
As of 4:30pm, the body passed only two legal overhauls intended to halve capital gains tax on property for two years, as suggested by last year's Economic Development Advisory Conference to revive the domestic real-estate market.
The measure, lobbied for by leading industrialists, is expected to shrink local government coffers by NT$22 billion a year. The Cabinet has pledged to make up the shortfall.
Leaders from all caucuses spent the entire morning and early afternoon seeking to carve out an agenda for the remaining session.
They struck a deal to first review bills the Cabinet and all caucuses labeled as urgent, to be followed by a vote this morning on controversial items in the 2002 fiscal budget.
If time allows, the agreement said, the legislature may take up proposals to establish a financial supervisory board, look after soldiers who fought in 1958 cross-strait warfare and spare accountants already in practice the trouble of gaining certification.
The agreement drew vehement protests from members who strove to score points before their tenure expires at the end of this month.
"It makes no sense to put so-called uncontroversial bills on the backburner," said KMT legislator Chiang Yi-wen (
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
RSS