Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday called on his own party’s leaders to be more “receptive” to public opinion because there is a “dearth of talent” in the party.
Wang, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), made the remarks during a handover ceremony for the Taiwan Solidarity Union’s legislative caucus whips.
When President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected in 2008 and the KMT regained power, Wang said he told a party leader that the party had suffered a talent shortage after being out of power for eight years.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Wang added that he told the party leader that the government should consult the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had accumulated a pool of talent after eight years in government.
He declined to reveal to whom he offered the suggestions, but said it was not Ma.
Citing a proposal presented by the KMT caucus on Wednesday on legislative oversight of cross-strait agreements as an example, Wang said that the KMT-proposed measures should have been put in place a long time ago.
“That is what we should have done in the legislature. It is beyond understanding why those who found my suggestions unacceptable in the past are now fine with the KMT proposal,” Wang said.
The KMT proposal calls for the Executive Yuan to communicate better with the legislature on cross-strait negotiations before, during and after such agreements are signed with China.
It came as a counter-initiative to a draft bill proposed by the DPP, which aims to establish statutory procedures for the legislature and the public to have a say on cross-strait agreements.
Separately, at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) asked Cabinet members to follow the principles set out under the KMT proposal in their dealings on cross-strait negotiations, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said.
In response to the repeated calls by Ma and Jiang for the legislature to ratify the cross-strait agreement on service trade before the current legislative session ends in the middle of this year, Wang said that as speaker, he cannot overrule the legislative process, but he would assist the government from the sidelines.
Wang again encouraged the KMT to support his idea that a panel composed of lawmakers across party lines be established in the legislature to strengthen legislative supervision of cross-strait dealings by the government.
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