The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said yesterday it had postponed a review of “controversial” bills until after the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rally on May 17 after the DPP threatened to do whatever it takes to block a proposed amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).
The KMT caucus previously said it would not rule out calling for a vote on the proposed amendment during yesterday’s plenary session.
However, the KMT changed its mind after DPP legislators on Monday locked the doors to two conference rooms to disrupt the KMT’s attempt to complete the committee review of three bills that would allow schools in Taiwan to recruit Chinese students and to recognize Chinese educational credentials.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
DPP legislators occupied the rooms for four-and-a-half hours until conveners of both committees adjourned the meetings.
At a press conference, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the caucus would seek to prevent the DPP manipulating the issue to boost support for its rally against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on May 17.
KMT caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said the caucus would continue to urge Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to convene cross-party negotiation sessions on the proposed amendment.
Despite the KMT’s decision, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the caucus would continue to boycott future plenary sessions if the KMT included the proposed amendment on the agenda.
Ker also threatened to refuse to negotiate with the KMT, accusing it of being unwilling to make concessions during previous negotiations.
The DPP opposes the amendment proposed by the Cabinet, which would give police the right to prevent a rally or change its route if the event posed a threat to national security, social order or the public interest.
The proposal would also give police the authority to break up any rally that blocked traffic.
Yang said the legislature could deliberate on whether to refer the DPP lawmakers to the Discipline Committee.
Also, KMT policy committee director Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said the KMT would not allow the DPP to delay the legislative session and promised to review all bills before the session ends.
Lin condemned the DPP over Monday’s boycott, saying it was attempting to gather more support for the demonstration on May 17.
The KMT yesterday discussed strategies to stop the DPP from paralyzing future legislative committee meetings. Lin said the party caucus would finish the review process and hold provisional meetings to pass all priority bills if the DPP continued to block the meetings.
Lin said the DPP had videotaped Monday’s incident and was ready to use the footage to motivate supporters to join the May 17 demonstration.
DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) led DPP supporters and Taipei City and County councilors yesterday in a protest outside the legislature against the proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act.
“Although the KMT legislators decided not to vote on the amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act [yesterday], we need to prepare to fight a long war to stop the law passing,” Wu told protesters.
Wu said protesters would crowd the legislature each time it tried to vote on the law. Members of the Wild Strawberry Student Movement and independence supporters also protested against the proposed law outside the legislature yesterday.
In related news, seven members of the Executive Yuan’s Human Rights Protection and Promotion Committee published an opinion piece in yesterday’s Chinese-language United Daily News calling on the government to take the concerns voiced by civil groups into consideration when revising the Assembly and Parade Act.
They said the amendments to the Act favored by the KMT would create a “lose-lose situation” for protesters and police.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) has convened the committee on an irregular basis to discuss rights issues since late last year.
Bruce Liao (廖元豪), associate professor of law at National Chengchi University, said the KMT-favored amendment still “held a hostile attitude toward political rallies” despite some progressive revisions.
Meanwhile, the legislature approved an amendment to the Narcotics Endangerment Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), raising fines for producing or trafficking drugs.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats