The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could be in violation of stipulations that prohibit engaging in cross-strait negotiations or agreements without government authorization, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
The Council slammed a recent meeting between a KMT delegation and Chinese officials in Beijing, saying that public condemnation of the trip would be the KMT's severest punishment. But officials said they are not ruling out the possibility of legal action against the members of the delegation.
Outgoing Council Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (
The act also stipulates that violators can be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison or a minimum fine of NT$200,000 and a maximum of NT$2 million.
The 30-member KMT delegation, led by party Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤), hammered out a ten-point agreement on trade, travel and commercial ties with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) representatives on Wednesday. The agreement comes at a sensitive juncture in cross-strait relations, with Beijing's recent passage of its "Anti-Secession" Law and a subsequent rally in Taipei protesting the legislation.
Chiu said that whether or not legal action would be taken against the KMT delegation would be decided after the group returned to Taiwan with details about the content and nature of the agreement.
The KMT's trip has been touted as the first contact between the former foes in over 50 years, and is seen as an indication of reconciliation between the two parties.
The KMT fled to Taiwan after being defeated by the CCP during the Civil War.
The delegation was given a high profile reception by high-level Chinese officials, including director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council Chen Yunlin (
However, the merrymaking in Beijing caused anger in Taipei, with the government warning that in addition to violating laws governing cross-strait negotiations, the KMT delegation could be in breach of constitutional separation of powers.
"As a general principle, we don't comment on non-governmental interaction across the Strait, but the KMT's trip is in violation of the workings of democratic governance," Chiu said, adding that the distinct roles of the legislative and executive branches had to be respected.
"The legislative branch should not take on the executive branch's duties," Chiu said. "This clearly violates the system of governance stipulated in our Constitution."
In light of the recent surge of interest in visiting China, the MAC said again in a statement yesterday that Beijing's Anti-Secession Law was adopted unilaterally, and as such had angered the Taiwanese and resulted in international criticism.
Following Chiang's trip to China, several political figures have also indicated a desire to meet with the Chinese authorities. Plans for KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The KMT also expects to send another delegation to Beijing towards the end of the month to discuss cross-strait charter flights and agricultural exports. PFP Legislator and Tainan County Farmers' Association chairman Tsai Sheng-chia (蔡勝佳) also has plans to visit China in coming weeks. KMT Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) also said he would like to invite Wu Bangguo (吳邦國), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, to Taiwan.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS