Lawmakers ready to hold more talks on nuclear plant

Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday he will hold an informal meeting with leaders of the opposition legislative caucuses tomorrow, in preparation for a fresh round of negotiations with the Executive Yuan to find a solution to the deadlock over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四).

After two days of no talks, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) called Wang on Friday expressing a wish to continue negotiations.

Wang said as the Executive Yuan has not sent its latest proposal to the legislature, it was premature to make any official response now. Therefore, Wang said, he would prefer exchanging views with the caucus leaders in private first.

Opposition caucus leaders yesterday said they welcomed Chang's request for further negotiations and would like to hear more about the Executive Yuan's new proposal.

However, they said the discussion should only be held under the precondition that the Executive Yuan is to resume construction of the plant.

KMT caucus whip Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金) said under this precondition, the KMT thinks it is a feasible idea to let both sides freely express their respective positions.

Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交), spokesman for the People First Party caucus, said it is a basic stance of the opposition coalition that the Executive Yuan should resume construction of the plant immediately, after which wider negotiations can be reopened to facilitate discussion on issues including the enactment of an energy law to lay down the goal of eventually building a nuclear-free country.

This is a basic step to safeguard the spirit of the Constitution, Hwang added.

Also yesterday, a private alliance consisting of anti-nuclear groups announced that they would hold a march on Feb. 24 to highlight their view that the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be decided by a referendum.