A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus leader said yesterday that his party's top priority in the new session was to push opposition lawmakers to pass proposals on a major construction drive and the downsizing of the legislature.
"The DPP will call on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) caucuses to carry out their pledge to complete these two works right after the legislative session reconvenes," DPP whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
Ker said that the KMT and PFP had been confident that the Legislative Yuan would be able to finish the tasks in the new session when they ruled out the possibility of a special session to deal with the agenda before Lunar New Year.
"They should publicly unveil their determination to realize their promise," he added.
Last Monday, one day before lawmakers broke for the holidays, the KMT and PFP vetoed proposals for a special plenary session ahead of the regular session to be reconvened on Feb. 6.
Pan-blue lawmakers blocked the motion as they said that the Legislative Yuan has plenty of time to screen the two debates.
Ker, however, said that finalizing the tasks was "imperative since they are decisive to augmenting national competitiveness."
Ker said that KMT and PFP legislators should not break their promise to deal with the two bills as soon as the session reconvenes, adding that the pan-blues could do so by passing a number of bills including the draft organic law on the establishment and management of the resolution trust cooperation, a fund that should help the administration to solve problems thrown up by mismanaged banks and cooperatives.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
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Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard