Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang made the remarks while attending the handover ceremony of the heads of a KMT subgroup in the legislature.
He noted that among the agreements reached between Chen and Soong on Thursday was that the national status of the Republic of China (ROC) as stated in the Constitution defines the de facto and de jure status quo across the Taiwan Strait and that this sovereignty status of the ROC deserves recognition and respect by both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the international community.
These factors, according to Wang, should help the Chinese authorities rethink their "anti-secession law." The proposed law, aimed at providing a legal basis for the use of force against Taiwan should it declare independence, will be put to review and is expected to be approved by the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament, next month.
"These factors should help China consider the postponement of its enactment, or even make its content less hostile toward Taiwan," Wang said.
He also said Chen's reaffirmation of his "four noes" has pointed a clear path for the nation and should help stabilize domestic politics in the longer term.
The "four noes" refers to Chen's promise that during his term he will not declare independence for Taiwan, will not change the official name of the country, will not include the "state-to-state" theory in the Constitution, will not promote a referendum to change the cross-strait status quo and will not abolish the Guidelines for National Unification and the National Unification Council.
Wang also said that the Cabinet's major military procurement project will have to follow set procedure. The Cabinet should first send a proposed statute concerning the procurement. After it clears the legislature, the Cabinet can then make a special budget on the purchase and send the budget proposal to the legislature for review, he said.
Wang's remarks came amid media speculation that the ruling and opposition parties might have clinched a deal on the arms purchase project following the Chen-Soong meeting.
Soong said after his meeting with the president on Thursday that his party opposes the arms deal -- a proposal to buy three Patriot Pac-3 anti-missile batteries, eight conventional submarines and a squadron of 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft from the US -- in the last legislature because it disagreed with the items and price of the weapons.
Because of the opposition of the PFP and the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the arms purchase statute was not even put on the agenda in the last legislature.
But Soong said on Thursday that "we cannot buy nothing, but we also cannot accept everything as it is."
He added that his party will rigorously screen the budget proposal submitted by the Executive Yuan.
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