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.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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