The government is reviewing amendments proposed to target suspected Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents in Taiwan, despite roadblocks from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) announced on Wednesday.
The KMT and People First Party (PFP) caucuses submitted motions to reconsider the proposals in an attempt to stall their submission to the review committee, Chen said. However, the voting majority of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the New Power Party vetoed the motions, allowing the review process to start.
What kind of message is the KMT sending to voters by blocking bills designed to protect the nation’s democracy and sovereignty? The DPP had made clear as early as July that the proposals were intended to prevent China from infiltrating Taiwan’s media and manipulating the elections.
MAC Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said the amendments were needed after it was discovered that more than 20 Taiwanese online media outlets had shared an article published by a Web site managed by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office that criticized President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The Lobbying Act (遊說法), the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法) and the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) prohibit China from engaging in activities that affect the nation’s elections or public sentiment, but no law regulates such illegal activities performed by China’s “agents.”
On Sept. 27, lawmakers said that amendments to these laws, as well as to 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), the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法) and the Cable Television Act (有線廣播電視法), were needed to clarify the penalty for those who disseminate propaganda or engage in acts that would benefit the CCP or harm national security.
“Several advanced democracies have laws to prevent external forces from infiltrating and dividing their societies,” Chiu said on July 11, according to the Central News Agency. For example, the US in 1938 enacted the Foreign Agents Registration Act, as well as stipulations in the US Civil Code against advocating the overthrow of the government, and Australia last year introduced laws to improve national security and prevent foreign interference.
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) at Double Ten National Day celebrations outside the city government building spoke about his resolve to protect national sovereignty. He would not allow anyone to harm Taiwan, he said, adding: “If necessary, every citizen, including myself, would protect the sovereignty of the Republic of China [ROC] with a gun.”
“The current cross-strait situation does not offer the conditions for unification or independence,” he added. Han had previously said that it would be “impossible for Taiwanese” to accept a “one country, two systems” model implemented in Taiwan by China.
The KMT caucus might not fully agree with Han, but the party has in recent months expelled several members who spoke critically of Han. The KMT said in an Oct. 1 statement that it “does not support the ‘one country, two systems’ framework and disapproves of the way President Tsai Ing-wen has attempted to equate it with the ‘1992 consensus.’”
Given how vocal the KMT has been in rejecting “one country, two systems” and in advocating the safeguarding of ROC sovereignty, its vehement opposition to amendments that target CCP agents in Taiwan is confusing.
The KMT would be wise to cooperate with other parties on bills that are aimed at fighting China’s encroachment. Doing so is in everyone’s best interest.
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