The special legislative session, which started yesterday, got off to a rocky start after contentious bills were placed on the agenda at a Procedure Committee meeting yesterday, raising the likelihood of more chaos when they are reviewed on Friday.
To address calls to pass budget bills for the government's flood control plan, legislators unanimously supported a budget bill for an eight-year flood prone area management plan, which is expected to clear the legislature on Friday.
But other than that, pan-blue camp-sponsored amendments aimed at relaxing cross-strait policies and an amendment the camp is promoting to counteract government scandals are sure to spark opposition from the pan-green camp.
The Procedure Committee put controversial bills at the top of the agenda for review on Friday -- as suggested by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Policy Committee Director Tseng Yung-chuan (
The pan-greens held up a banner reading "Livelihoods Yes, Politics No" during the committee meeting in protest, saying the pan-blue camp cared only about partisan bills and was setting aside those that concerned people's livelihoods.
After the committee meeting, Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) caucus whip Chen Chih-jun (
With regard to amendments to laws governing cross-strait issues, the pan-blue camp proposed changes that which would strip the government of its authority to regulate cross-strait direct links and the small three links, or direct transportation between Taiwan's outlying islands with China.
Under the proposed amendment to the Statute Governing Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (
An amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) by independent lawmakers would eliminate the government's authority to allow Chinese to travel to Kinmen and Matsu islands.
A similar proposal was also put forward by People First Party Legislator Feng Ting-kuo (
Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
"The amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act is tantamount to a surrender of the nation's sovereignty to China," Wu said.
DPP caucus whip Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said that "even in Hong Kong and Macau, which have become China's territory, Chinese people still need permission from the Hong Kong and Macau Administrations."
MAC Secretary-General Chan Chih-hung (詹志宏), at a separate press conference yesterday, said the elimination of the "permission system" in Article 18 of the law would undermine the government's authority to control the arrival of the Chinese and create loopholes for national security.
Chan added that any unilateral opening measure by Taiwan might not necessarily receive a reciprocal response from China, which had internal concerns regarding allowing its citizens to travel to Taiwan.
"The feasibility of the amendment is questionable. Beijing actually fears that Taiwan will use the small three links to practice [a form of] direct three links," Chan said, adding that Beijing was not yet ready to allow the free flow of its citizens into Taiwan.
In related news, an amendment to the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (
Pan-blue legislators call the amendment the "Chao Chien-ming (
Meanwhile, Premier Su Tseng-chang (
"I respect the legislature's right to set forth a motion to recall the president, but I think that taking into consideration people's daily lives is more important," Su said on the legislative floor while being questioned by legislators.
Additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
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