Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said that he would find a workable proposal to break the deadlock between the government and the student movement over the cross-strait service trade agreement.
After an inter-party negotiation at Wang’s residence broke down for the third time yesterday in as many days, Wang called for party caucuses to submit proposals to resolve the controversy.
“The negotiations will continue. If no progress is made and if party caucuses agree, I will try to work out an initiative,” Wang said.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) each set four preconditions for their proposals.
The KMT said it would agree to send the trade pact back to the joint review committee and allow the pact to be reviewed clause-by-clause, but on the condition that the DPP not boycott the proceedings convened by Wang at a location to be decided.
KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said the party was prepared to make the concession to end the current turmoil as soon as possible.
The DPP rejected the proposal, saying that the KMT’s proposal was not in line with mainstream public opinion and that Wang could not convene a committee meeting, under Legislative Yuan regulations.
DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the DPP demanded that the pact only be reviewed after the establishment of a monitoring mechanism on cross-strait agreements and with the opportunity to revise the content of the agreement.
The party also asked that no timetable be set for the passage of the pact and that a document request committee be established to investigate the Executive Yuan’s order of a police crackdown on students in the Executive Yuan early on Monday morning.
In an earlier cross-party negotiation on Tuesday, Wang reportedly took issue with the KMT caucus’ suggestion that he should preside over the review process, complaining to Lin that his party was attempting to shift all the responsibility for resolving the standoff on to the legislative speaker.
“Is it right to ask me to handle all of this?” Wang reportedly asked Lin.
The cross-strait service trade agreement, which was signed June last year between Taiwan and China, has been stuck in the Legislature ever since, amid boycotts and fights among KMT and DPP lawmakers for control of the podium, and more recently has drawn public protests.
Additional reporting by CNA
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS