The government will seek a constitutional interpretation and other measures to annul the cross-strait peace advancement bill should it be passed into law, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman You Ying-lung (
You made the remarks at the council's regular press conference yesterday.
The bill failed to move forward last Friday due to scuffles between pan-green and pan-blue lawmakers over the draft national communications commission bill. The pan-blue camp, with the People First Party (PFP) taking a leading role, plans to use its numerical advantage to try and steamroll the bill through the legislature next Tuesday.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
The MAC yesterday warned the pan-blue camp against passing the bill, saying that it merely supports China's "Anti-Secession" Law, which authorizes China to use "non-peaceful means" if Taiwan "moves toward independence."
If the peace bill is passed into law, it will allow for the creation of a cross-strait "peace committee," which will be in charge of the country's cross-strait policy making.
The so-called "1992 consensus," which recognizes the "one China" policy, will also be incorporated into the bill.
You said that the bill is incapable of advancing cross-strait peace.
"Instead, it will cause a huge dispute in this country and divide the Taiwanese people, as the so-called `1992-consensus' has never been the consensus in this country," he said.
As for the establishment of the cross-strait "peace committee" to enact cross-strait policy, You said it will paralyze the operation of the government.
"As the bill doesn't comply with the Constitution, the government will seek possible solutions to annul it," You said.
In the face of the government's opposition, PFP caucus whip Hwang Yih-jiau (
"If the bill is passed on Tuesday's meeting in the Legislative Yuan, the government has to implement the law because it is a result of democracy," Huang.
Meanwhile, a group of 50 lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rallied yesterday in front of the Legislative Yuan to show their determination to block the bill.
Legislator William Lai (
He said that while Taiwan should unite to face up to China's threat, especially in the face of Beijing's enactment earlier this year of its so-called "Anti-Secession" Law giving Beijing the "legal" option of taking Taiwan by force, the PFP and its political ally the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have in fact been trying to supplicate China by coming up with the peace-promotion bill.
Lai led his caucus members in chanting "false peace, actual surrender," saying that his party will fight tooth and nail to thwart it, despite being a minority party in the legislature.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas