Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislators Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) and Puma Shen (沈伯洋) have proposed amendments to regulate lawmakers’ visits to China.
Legislators and elected representatives who have access to high-level classified materials should be included with military and intelligence personnel in facing restrictions when visiting China, to prevent leaks that could endanger national security, they said.
Lai proposed amending the Legislators’ Conduct Act (立法委員行為法) to require legislators who had attended closed-door meetings on national security matters to disclose their travel itineraries when visiting China, Hong Kong or Macau.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
Shen seeks to amend the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to require legislators and other elected officials to obtain permission from a supervisory government agency before traveling to China.
“Our amendments are not to ban pan-blue camp legislators from visiting China. The important issue is that when they travel and hold talks with Chinese Communist Party officials, they should report back on those meetings,” Shen said.
“It should be their responsibility to report who they spoke with, their roles in China ... what was discussed. They should be required to inform the government” about the visits, he said.
The proposals were introduced last week, as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers traveled to China.
Two ways to update the rules are to amend the law governing cross-strait relations or the National Intelligence Service Act (國家情報工作法), Shen said.
“Legislators have a duty to monitor the government. Therefore, they must alert the public to how dangerous it is when legislators visit China,” Lai said.
“We know that China is focused on stealing our national secrets, to obtain information on highly classified materials, but legislators must remain loyal to this country and keep these national secrets from leaking out,” he said.
“If we do not amend the laws to restrict this kind of travel, to require legislators exercise self-discipline, then China can gain easy access to military and national secrets through the legislature, which is the simplest and most direct channel for China,” he added.
“It is our sincere hope that the ruling party and opposition parties take up this stance to defend Taiwan’s military and national secrets, no matter which party is in charge of the executive branch,” Lai said.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS