The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday obstructed scheduled legislative proceedings to pass a bill on ill-gotten party assets by calling for votes on each first-reading bill on the floor agenda, of which there were more than 200.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus and the New Power Party (NPP) proposed to extend the meeting until midnight.
The legislative floor meeting commenced later than usual yesterday morning, as the DPP caucus had a prolonged caucus meeting, after which DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the caucus planned to achieve two things — the passage of the bill on ill-gotten party assets and the announcement of a joint statement concerning the South China Sea ruling.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The latter was achieved, while the former had not been dealt with as of press time last night.
Soon after the general assembly meeting started, the KMT caucus demanded a roll call vote as the method of voting in yesterday’s meeting, which DPP lawmakers and Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said would have to be decided by a vote.
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) shouted in the chamber: “The voting system we have now is already a name-registering vote. I see no reason why the KMT caucus has to raise the need to change it, other than to try to hamper legislative proceedings and protect their party assets.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The voting system in the general assembly chamber consists of two electronic boards at the front of the chamber that display the names of lawmakers and flashes green, red or yellow for “yea,” “nay” and abstain respectively.
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also criticized the KMT caucus, saying its measures were “ridiculous” and calling on the party to “stop throwing a fit and step back from the brink.”
KMT lawmakers, all clad in blue in a show of solidarity, from that point on called for a roll call vote, a vote and a revote for each first-reading bill that was to be referred to committees for review by dissenting against which committees the proposals were to be referred to.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
There were a total of 276 cases to be referred to committees on the floor agenda yesterday.
In the morning, only six of the 276 were processed. Under typical legislative procedures, the second and third readings of bills on the discussion agenda would be dealt with only after all the committee-referral cases were done.
In the front of the chamber, the KMT lawmakers held up placards and chanted slogans demanding that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) report to the Legislative Yuan on the recent accidental launch of a missile and a ruling on the South China Sea by an international court.
One placard asked if Tsai was a US lackey, while another read: “An inch of [our] mountains and rivers [equals] an inch of [our] blood,” a phrase first used by the Republic of China’s armed forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
“Defend our sovereignty and protect our fishing rights,” was another slogan the KMT lawmakers repeated.
In the middle of voting in the evening, NPP Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) discovered that newly elected KMT caucus convener Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) was pressing the voting button for former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who was absent, which was condemned.
KMT lawmakers later accused DPP lawmakers of voting for other legislators who had temporarily left their seats.
Yesterday was the last day of this year’s first legislative session.
Two extraordinary sessions later this month and next month are expected to be called, the DPP caucus said earlier this week.
The legislature was dealing with the 58th item on the agenda as of 9pm yesterday.
Additional reporting by Abraham Gerber
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would