The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus, which has proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), turned coy yesterday about the need to push the amendment for the time being.
Asked for comment, KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) voiced his concerns about “violence” used by participants at the rally organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in protest against the visit of Association for the Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last week.
Chang said more public deliberation was needed before the legislature could address the caucus proposal on scrapping the requirement that event organizers gain police approval before holding a rally.
Called “evil” by activists, the law, which took effect under the KMT administration in 1988, has long been regarded as an instrument used by the government to control the people and curb their right to freedom of expression.
Since then, the DPP has described the law, along with the National Security Law (國家安全法) and the Civil Organization Law (人民團體法), as a “trinity” of relics from the Martial Law era that serve the interests of those in power.
Some KMT caucus members proposed earlier this year to require that event organizers only “report” planned rallies to police rather than seek approval from law-enforcement authorities.
A similar proposal was initiated by the People First Party (PFP) caucus in 2006 during the campaign led by former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) to oust then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
A PFP motion in May 2006 to allow the bill to skip the legislature’s preliminary review won the support of 107 pan-blue lawmakers and was opposed to by 92 pan-green legislators during a vote.
The bill never cleared the legislative floor.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard