Premier to try to broker a ceasefire

In a bid to ease recent tension and foster a better relationship with the Legislative Yuan, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that he will sit down and talk with legislators across party lines sometime next week.

In addition, the weekly Cabinet affairs meeting will be pushed forward by 30 minutes to start at 8:30am and conclude 30 minutes earlier at 10am. Currently, the Wednesday meeting starts at 9am and may drag on until 12am.

"We hope the legislature will reciprocate our goodwill by pushing back Wednesday's committee meeting until 10 am," said Cabinet spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) yesterday evening.

According to Chuang, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had tried to telephone the premier earlier this afternoon but failed to reach him because the premier was in a meeting.

"However, the two eventually managed to talk on the phone and agreed to invite Cabinet officials and legislators of all stripes to sit down and talk," Chuang said.

The Cabinet hopes that the face-to-face negotiations will help quell the anger of legislators who say they are fed up with no-show Cabinet officials.

Chuang added that Yu also asked the Cabinet's Central Personnel Administration (人事行政局) to keep track of Cabinet officials' attendance in legislative interpellation, committee meetings and subgroup forums. "We'd like to better understand the interaction between the executive and legislative bodies," Chuang quoted Yu as saying.

"Besides, the record could be useful should any misunderstanding take place." If a Cabinet official has to skip a legislative meeting, Chuang said, the person has to give a legitimate reason and to obtain the approval from the relevant supervisor.

"To avoid a possible spat with the legislature in the future, we'd like to map out a specific rule for Cabinet officials to follow so they'll know what kind of legislative meetings they should or need not to attend," Chuang said.