Meanwhile, the Internal Administration Committee meeting was forced to adjourn in the morning when DPP legislators took over the speaker’s podium and prevented the meeting from proceeding.
DPP lawmakers tried to stop the meeting by demanding that Wu hold a vote to postpone the meeting. Wu, however, waited more than 45 minutes until more KMT lawmakers had arrived before holding the vote. The DPP was outvoted 8:7.
“This is a conspiracy. Wu held off the vote until the KMT was able to mobilize more people. This is anti-democracy. This is dictatorship,” DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said.
The meeting continued, but the standoff between the DPP and the KMT lasted more than three hours before the chairman, KMT lawmaker Wu Yu-sheng (吳育生), announced the meeting was adjourned until 2:30pm.
The committee failed to reconvene in the afternoon and Wu canceled the meeting at 5:30pm.
This was the first time a committee meeting had ended like this, Wu said.
KMT Legislator Yang Chun-ying (楊瓊瓔) panned the DPP for “sabotaging” the democratic system by holding the meeting hostage, while Wu said the DPP’s refusal to leave the podium was “violence by the minority.”
KMT lawmakers yesterday lashed out at the DPP’s behavior at the legislature, calling them “childish” and “barbaric.”
Saying that the DPP was no different from criminals or a three-year-old, Wu said the DPP set a bad example for the public with its “unreasonable” and “emotional” actions and called on the public to spurn it.
Mainland Affair Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), who came to the committee at about 5:20pm, said outside the room that the government would ensure that the rights of Taiwanese students were well protected and would only gradually allow Chinese students to study here, beginning with between 1,000 and 2,000 annually.
Vice Minister of Education Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳) said the government would not allow Chinese students to take up the quota reserved for Taiwanese students, steal local students’ jobs, or take national examinations to obtain professional licenses.
DPP lawmakers, who came out at 5:50pm, held banners reading “oppose recognition of Chinese educational credentials” and shouted the slogan “oppose allowing Chinese students to study here.”
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told reporters that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would complete his plans for ultimate unification with China if the legislature passed the bills this week as planned.
“I hope Ma and the KMT administration do not doubt the resolve of DPP or choose to challenge it,” he said. “We will fight to the death to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty and right to survive.”
DPP Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) said the issue should be scrutinized in public hearings held nationwide before being submitted for legislative review.
“Students and teachers would be the most affected if Chinese were to come to Taiwan. But until now, they were never given a chance to voice their opinions,” she said.
The KMT argued that opening Taiwan to Chinese students would boost enrollment and stimulate competitiveness.
The proposed amendment says Chinese students would not be given any preferential treatment, be eligible for scholarships or be allowed to hold part-time jobs while at school. Chinese students would be prohibited from working in Taiwan both in the private and public sectors and must leave the country upon graduation.
RSS