Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) promised yesterday to enact a law monitoring Taiwan’s pacts with China before the legislature reviews the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement.
The move was welcomed by the student activists, but they have yet to decide whether to withdraw from the legislative compound.
Wang made the announcement during a high-profile visit to the student protesters on the occupied legislative chamber, but prior to entering the room, he held a press conference saying that he has never shunned the responsibility for mediating the conflicts between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over the pact’s handling.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
He expressed regret and concern that the attempts to solve the dispute by having the KMT secretary-general and DPP convener communicate face-to-face and by holding six cross-party negotiations have all failed to reach consensus.
“The legislature is the sanctuary of democracy, not because of its grandiose architecture, but because it can reflect the people’s voice. The appropriateness of the means the students have employed to reach their ends is open to discussion, but what they are doing is making people reflect upon democracy,” he said.
“I’m hesitant to criticize the students’ aspirations to widen civic participation, but I also hope to caution them that long-term occupation of the legislature has halted the review of bills that could have an impact on people’s livelihood,” he said.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
“I call on the students to go back to where you belong and enrich yourself and continue to display conviction, tenderness, rationality and peace to make the world respect our democracy,” Wang added.
Wang said he “would not convene [another] inter-party negotiation about the cross-strait service trade agreement until the draft of cross-strait agreements oversight mechanism has been legislated.”
He said “the country’s development and stability turns on the ruling party’s tolerance and forbearance, the opposition party’s wisdom and the people’s support” and that “we will learn lessons and better observe public opinion in future national policy promotion and implementation.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Wang concluded his talk by saying that he hopes the dispute can end peacefully and calling out “Taiwan, jia you [加油, an expression of encouragement]!” several times.
Wang then walked into the chamber and shook hands with several students while student leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said Wang’s comment showed that the protest has achieved preliminary results.
Wang left the legislature without making a public speech.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), who accompanied Wang during his press conference and visit, said that Wang would not initiate the review of the service trade pact until the legislation of a cross-strait agreement oversight mechanism has been accomplished.
The students welcomed the comments, but said any withdrawal from the compound would require further discussion with Sunflower movement participants.
“We welcome the response that Wang has made to our demands during a brief stay at the Legislative Yuan at 11am this morning,” student leader Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) told a crowd yesterday afternoon rallying outside the legislature. “The most important part of his remarks is that he promised that he would not call a cross-party negotiation on [reviewing] the cross-strait service trade agreement before passing a legislation to monitor cross-strait agreements.”
Chen said that as the KMT could not reach an agreement with opposition parities on reviewing the cross-strait trade pact, “when Wang said that he would not call a cross-party negotiation before adopting the monitoring bill means that, in fact, he is positively responding to our demand to pass the legislation before reviewing the trade pact.”
Chen then urged all lawmakers regardless of their party affiliation to work with Wang to independently advance the monitoring mechanism.
“This breakthrough is all because of the efforts that Taiwan’s civil society has made in the past three weeks. We would like to pay our highest respect to all those who have either actively participated, or expressed your support in different ways,” Chen said, bowing to the crowd with several student leaders, including Lin.
“We have gone through many things that made us feel powerless, we have been saddened by tears and bloodshed,” Lin said. “But today, we can proudly say that we are finally seeing the break of dawn in this nation.”
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS