TSU lawmakers boycott review of national security mechanism papers

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus said yesterday that it would not sign an agreement establishing a committee to review the establishment of the national security mechanism during the election, unless other parties agreed to create a committee to review the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) assets.

Two days ago, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), KMT and People First Party (PFP) caucuses agreed to form a committee to review the documents concerning the national security mechanism.

The committee would be required to produce a report within one month.

The TSU was not present at these inter-party negotiations and has since refused to sign the agreement.

TSU caucus whip Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) described the plans for a committee to review the documents on the national security mechanism as "nonsense," "shameless" and "lawless."

"The KMT has filed a lawsuit to request that the court nullify the election and investigate the national security mechanism, but they are still asking to form a committee to deal with the mechanism. This is nonsense," Chen said.

"Furthermore, they are trying to abuse justice, and that's shameless. They intend to violate the principles of the justice system and the Control Yuan, and that's lawless," Chen said.

"We propose the simultaneous creation of a committee to review the documents on the KMT's party assets, otherwise we won't agree to a committee focusing on the national security mechanism," said TSU legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明).

In related news, independent legislator Chu Hsing-yu's (朱星羽) proposal to eliminate the bonus for tax investigators was yesterday again held back for further negotiations.

Chu's proposal for the tentative Statute on Financial Penalty Charges (財務罰鍰處理暫行條例) was the first bill to be discussed at yesterday's sitting, but was held back after the DPP caucus voiced objections.

The proposal can be put to the vote on Tuesday, by which time it will have been under negotiation for four months. According to legislative procedure, a bill can be put to the vote after it has been discussed for four months in inter-party negotiations.

The Alliance of Independent Lawmakers yesterday afternoon motioned for all bills to go through further negotiations instead of passing.

The amendment to the Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) was also held back for further discussion.