Lawmakers and Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) debated amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) yesterday, with a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker calling for it to be abolished altogether.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) re-proposed amendments to the act this legislative session, saying she had proposed them in the previous legislature, but they did not pass a final reading due to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) boycott.
“We all know the law was established in 1988 as one of the three laws for national security [with the other two being the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法)] for the government to retain its power over the people and restrict the public’s basic human rights after martial law was lifted” in 1987, Cheng said.
“The Assembly and Parade Act, instituted with a Martial Law-period mindset, contradicts the Constitution, which guarantees people’s rights to assembly and demonstration,” she said.
Cheng said that authority given by the act should be moved from “the police agencies to the Ministry of the Interior and local governments.”
“However, the most important amendment would be scrapping the regulation requiring people to apply for government approval before staging an outdoor assembly or a parade. Under the amendment, people would need to notify the agencies of their plan only if they choose to,” Cheng said.
Cheng said that the “necessary notification” required by the amendment proposed by the Executive Yuan “is in essence no different from the existing regulations that require approval.”
Cheng motioned for the removal of restriction on the places demonstrations and assemblies could be staged and of the power of the authorities to call for the dispersal of assemblies.
“The Executive Yuan’s proposal keeps the dispersal power, which has been a source of tension between the police and the people,” she said.
Meanwile, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) called for the act to be abolished altogether.
“We have seen state violence in response to a series of street activities in the past years, but when an opposition party, striving to amend the law, becomes the ruling party, it changes its mind and says that the law is appropriate,” Lin said.
“We have to state it clearly that we have no confidence in any ruling party, regardless of which it is; we have no confidence that state violence would not fall upon the people” with the law as it is, she said.
“Some might question how social stability could be maintained without the law, but social stability [should not be conditioned on] the curbing of the people’s basic rights. With the abolishment of the act, administrative regulations could instead be established for to maintain order,” Lin said.
“We have to follow their trend because they have more votes,” KMT Legislator Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) said. “It would be fine for me if they want Taiwan to be more chaotic. It is our turn to take to the streets.”
Chen Wei-zen said the amendments have to be carefully deliberated as, for instance, changing the regulations to voluntary notification would cause problems concerning proposed routes, schedules and the possibility of facing provocation.
Abolishing the restricted zones would also put the security of key agencies and facilities at risk, he added.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS