The TSU legislative caucus slammed the pan-blue alliance yesterday for stonewalling the passage of a "national loyalty check" bill.
Worse still, the TSU caucus said the KMT and PFP pushed for amending the Civil Servant Employment Law (
The TSU caucus claimed that the pan-blue alliance's moves have created holes in the nation's security system and left room for agents from China to infiltrate Taiwan.
The TSU caucus was responding to its KMT and PFP counterparts' recent criticism of National Security Council Secretary-General Kang Ning-hsiang (
The alliance said Kang's employment of Chang Pei-chen (
Chang, who had devoted herself to research on the Chinese economy for 20 years at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research before she joined the council on April 1, resigned from her council post last Saturday.
Her resignation came after a local newspaper reported that her husband had used her name to set up a company in Hong Kong which cooperated with the business arm of China's Ministry of Railways in operating land development deals in Shanghai.
TSU legislative whip Chien Lin Huei-jyun (
Chien Lin said the pan-blue alliance is to blame for the loose security checks conducted on civil servants.
She pointed out that the TSU came up with a host of draft bills in May last year with a view to tightening the protection of military intelligence and other national secrets.
However, Chien Lin said, the KMT and the PFP had boycotted screening of these bills. She said the two parties had stonewalled the transfer of the national loyalty bill to the legislature's Judiciary Committee for deliberation 17 times.
Without the enactment of this bill, Chien Lin said, government agencies cannot conduct stringent loyalty checks on would-be civil servants.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
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