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 (
"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 (
In related news, independent legislator Chu Hsing-yu's (
Chu's proposal for the tentative Statute on Financial Penalty Charges (
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.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today. “We would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said during a legislative hearing. At the same time, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said. Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he