The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed a preliminary review of a proposed amendment to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) which would establish an international affairs office.
If a third reading of the amendment can be completed during the current legislative session, which ends this month, the office could be established as soon as the next session, which is to begin in September, Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) said yesterday.
International affairs are currently handled by the public relations division of the legislature’s Secretariat, which comprises only eight people, he said.
Photo: CNA
That has proved insufficient due to the increasing numbers of delegations visiting Taiwan, Lin said, adding that the legislature sometimes has to enlist the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and business groups.
In the past four years, the legislature each year welcomed more than 250 delegations consisting of more than 3,000 members, which demonstrated the need to establish the office, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tang Hui-chen (湯蕙禎) said.
The division has welcomed 691 guests from 55 delegations during the current legislative session, the Secretariat said.
The new office is to have four civil servants in each of four sections, which are to be in charge of parliamentary exchanges, international cooperation, international communication and protocol-related affairs, Lin said.
After the establishment of the office, the public relations division could focus on domestic affairs, he said.
The primary duties of the office would include integrating parliamentary diplomacy tasks, actively fostering friendly relations with the parliaments of other nations, participating in international events and assisting in expanding Taiwan’s diplomatic space, he said.
The office would help deepen Taiwan’s relations with its diplomatic allies and enhance its substantial relationships with other nations, he added.
The personnel costs of the office are estimated to be about NT$33.24 million (US$1.08 million), the legislature’s Budget Center said.
The budget for work related to parliamentary diplomacy, which is to cover the operational costs of the office, is to remain unchanged at NT$22.6 million and can be increased if needed, Lin said.
The legislative caucuses of the DPP, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Taiwan People’s Party and the New Power Party all proposed their own versions of the amendment, which are similar, he said.
Separately, regarding discussions of relocating the Legislative Yuan, which have been ongoing for more than 30 years, Lin said that Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) is very serious about the plan and it is “not just talk.”
According to a report released in January, proposed new locations have been narrowed down to six — Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Park, the former Air Force Command headquarters, the Taipei Detention Center in Tucheng (土城), the Chenggong Ling (成功嶺) military camp, Yilan County’s Chung Hsing Cultural and Creative Park and a zone near the high-speed rail station in Changhua County.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS