The pan-blue camp swept all the committee convener seats in the legislature yesterday, leaving the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with no authority to decide committee agendas during this legislative session.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators secured 15 seats, while Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) Legislator Kang Shih-ju (康世儒) won the remaining seat.
DPP lawmakers were able to win the same number of ballots as their KMT counterparts in the Economics Committee and the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee votes, but the odds went against the DPP during the subsequent drawing of lots.
The Organic Act of Legislative Committees (立法院各委員會組織法) states that committee chiefs enjoy the power to convene committee meetings and arrange the agenda.
The result of the elections went against the consensus reached during cross-party negotiations on Thursday last week that the pan-green camp could head the Economics Committee and the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) promised to enhance communication with the DPP within the committees.
DPP Policy Research Committee head Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) downplayed the party’s defeat in the committee elections, saying the DPP would still supervise the KMT administration.
KMT legislators Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) and Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) will head the Internal Administration Committee, while KMT legislators Liao Wan-ju (廖婉汝) and Liu Shen-liang (劉盛良) will take over the Foreign and National Defense Committee.
KMT lawmakers Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) and Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) will be in charge of the Economics Committee, while the KMT’s Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) and the NPSU’s Kang will preside over the Finance Committee.
KMT Legislator Chao Li-yun (趙麗雲) will head the Education and Culture Committee with her colleague Chiang Yi-hsiung (江義雄).
Transportation Committee heads are KMT legislators Yang Jen-fu (楊仁福) and Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝), while KMT legislators Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) and Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) will co-chair the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
KMT lawmakers Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) and Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) will convene the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee sessions.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
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