The legislature yesterday voted to send the four cross-strait agreements signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and other Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-proposed amendments aimed at enhancing cross-strait ties to a preliminary review stage.
Yesterday’s move will not assure a smooth passage for the bills, however, as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus said that it was considering freezing the referral by proposing a motion to reconsider the bills.
In accordance with legislative procedure, a motion of reconsideration on yesterday’s vote is permissible before Dec. 1.
PHOTO: CNA
DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said that the caucus would try to freeze the amendments to the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), but not the four new cross-strait agreements.
Stalling the four agreements in a procedural way would not help block their passage as the KMT could cite Article 95 of the Statute.
This states that the four agreements would automatically take effect 30 days after the legislature received them from the Executive Yuan, Lai said.
During yesterday’s session, the DPP failed to win a vote asking the Executive Yuan to send agreement-related amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法); the Statute Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area; the Income Tax Law (所得稅法) and the Value-Added and Non Value-Added Business Tax Act (加值型與非加值型營業稅法) to the legislature for deliberation along with the agreements.
“We will continue to raise the demand when the agreements are reviewed at the committee stage,” Lai said.
DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said that the party was opposed any further opening to China under the framework of the four agreements.
Pan said that it would negatively affect the country’s economy and damage Taiwan’s sovereignty.
KMT legislative caucus whip Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) lashed out at the DPP caucus for what he called its “irrational” objections to all amendments to the cross-strait statutes.
“One of the amendments was designed to bring more Taiwanese capital back for investment in Taiwan. The DPP should tell the public why it opposed such an initiative,” Lo said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS