The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would hold a disciplinary meeting this week, KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said yesterday. The move comes following a vote in the legislature on Friday in which the opposition parties almost mustered enough votes to pass a motion banning the import of US beef, despite the KMT holding a majority of legislative seats.
The resolution, a joint effort by the Democratic Progressive Party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the People First Party, called for the government to remove US beef from the shelves of local stores, place imported US beef under customs seal and temporarily ban US beef because of the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, commonly called mad cow disease), in accordance with Article 5-7 of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures adopted by WTO members.
During the first round of voting on Friday, KMT legislators Yang Ying-hsiung (楊應雄) and Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) abstained, though they voted against the resolution in the second round after coming under pressure from KMT caucus whips to toe the party line. Another three KMT lawmakers — Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), Lin Chang-min (林滄敏) and Lo Shu-lei (羅淑雷) — also abstained from voting in the second round.
Lin Chang-min said that although he disapproved of the pan-green camp’s “surprise attacks” in introducing the resolution, there were legitimate reasons to ban imports of US beef given that the US had recorded a new case of mad cow disease.
Lin Chang-min said that he abstained from voting out of a belief that public health is an issue of paramount importance and that he felt it was his responsibility first and foremost to defend the interests of Taiwanese.
Lo said that prior to the party’s priority mobilization, the KMT caucus had not been informed what the vote would be about, adding that it was only after the session started that she realized the vote was on a resolution to ban the import of US beef.
Lo said she abstained because she did not know how to articulate her concern over the subject in such a short span of time.
As to a KMT caucus regulation that imposes fines on lawmakers who fail to cooperate with a caucus priority mobilization order, Lo said she was happy to pay the fine if her actions contributed to heightening public awareness over the issue.
According to Lin Hung-chih, failure to comply with a priority mobilization order can result in a fine of NT$10,000 (US$340), but he also said that no fine had been imposed since the previous legislative term.
Meanwhile, Ting said that he abstained because he had family matters to take care of in the morning and when he arrived at the Legislative Yuan, he met with an official from CPC Corp. By the time he returned to the legislative session, the second round of voting had already started and he had no idea what was being voted on so he abstained, Ting said.
KMT legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環), who was absent from Friday’s session, said she had absented herself because she opposed leanness-enhancing additive-laced US beef, even more so after the case of mad cow disease, and would have had to vote in favor had she attended.
“I had already told the caucus group that I favored zero tolerance for leanness-enhancing additives laced beef,” Yang said, adding that “we should not import poisoned things for people to eat, because who are they going to blame if they get sick years later after we allow imports?”
Two other KMT legislators who abstained from voting were Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) and Ma Wen-jun (馬文君). They said they arrived late to the session and were about to vote when the voting concluded.
Lin Hung-chih said KMT lawmakers declining to cooperate with the party whips was a warning sign.
“We will launch an internal review next week to uphold party discipline and ensure party unity,” he said, adding that the caucus needed better discipline and unity otherwise it would be unable to defend the people’s rights and push through the policies of the government.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS