Legislators made some progress yesterday in reaching a consensus on amendments that would lift all restrictions on cross-strait direct transportation, as the pan-blue camp agreed to back down from its initial position of removing the ban on foreign participation in cross-strait transportation routes.
The consensus was reached during a negotiation yesterday convened by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
However, legislators were still divided over a clause which would deprive the government of the authority to issue permits for Taiwanese vessels and aircraft to sail or fly to China as well as the three-month deadline for the amendments to go into effect after they clear the legislature.
"If the Executive Yuan can come up tomorrow [today] with a proposal that can gain the support of the pan-blue camp, we won't need to vote on the individual parts," Wang said.
The amendments, sponsored by the pan-blue camp, suggested revising the 28th, 29th and 30th clauses of the Statute Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (
also see story:
Editorial: Fools rush in on cross-strait links
RSS