Pan-blues bring legislature to standstill

Cashing in on their numerical advantage, the opposition caucuses yesterday voted down 33 bills proposed by the pan-green alliance in the legislature's Procedure Committee, including the arms procurement plan and confirmation of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) nominees for the Control Yuan.

The People First Party (PFP) caucus also threatened to block all bills proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the future if the DPP boycotted the cross-strait peace bill it proposed. The legislature's Interior Committee is scheduled to review the bill along with the anti-invasion peace law proposed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) today.

Responding to the PFP's demand, DPP caucus whip Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said that his caucus will not reject the PFP's bill.

"We will not boycott the bill nor veto it like the PFP suspects," Lai said. "As long as the content of the bill does not violate the national interest, national consciousness or the Constitution, we are more than happy to rationally discuss the bill with them."

Upset by remarks made by Lai on Monday, PFP Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) told the Procedure Committee yesterday afternoon that a war was being fought between his party and the DPP.

"Today marks a milestone, because from now on, we will wage a war against the DPP and will strike down all bills proposed by either the DPP caucus or its lawmakers," Lin said. "One meeting between Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and President Chen is enough. We oppose any more meetings between the two."

Lin's emotional remark received cheers and a round of applause from pan-blue committee members.

"Seriously, don't be a fool anymore," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) told Lin after he returned to his seat.

Lai reportedly told the media that his caucus does not see any immediate reason to enact a cross-strait peace bill, because some of the articles are controversial and might run the risk of violating the the Constitution.

In addition to waging a "war" against the DPP, Lin said that his party had shouldered a lot of criticism from its supporters following the Chen-Soong meeting.

"The reason that Chairman Soong is willing to bear the criticism of its supporters for his meeting with Chen is because we hope to have the DPP administration's backing for the cross-strait peace law," Lin said. "We are not asking too much, are we?"

In response to Lin's remark, Lai told committee members that the PFP is not the only party under pressure from its supporters, because his party also received the same treatment.

"However, we swallowed all the criticism because we firmly believe that partisan co-operation and reconciliation is the right way to go," Lai said.

The pan-blue-dominated Procedure Committee eventually voted 18 to nine to strike down all six of the additional bills the DPP tried to place on the agenda, including the arms-procurement plan and the confirmation of the Control Yuan nominees.