The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday threatened to withhold cooperation on cross-party negotiations because a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-dominated legislative committee rushed through a controversial bill that would recognize Chinese educational credentials and give Chinese students the legal right to study in Taiwan.
The bill will now proceed to the full-house session for further deliberation. The KMT government wants the bill passed before the start of the fall semester.
The afternoon session of the joint meeting of the Internal Administration Committee and the Education and Culture Committee almost ground a halt after DPP lawmakers sought to reverse the committee’s May 10 decision to push through the preliminary review of controversial legal revisions to the Act Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
DPP lawmakers declined to confirm the minutes of the May 10 meeting, claiming some of the facts were inaccurate.
They occupied the convener’s podium and demanded the committee play the footage of the May 10 meeting for four points in question to substantiate their claim.
KMT lawmakers, however, said the DPP caucus could only reverse the bill if they agreed to confirm the minutes.
If the DPP caucus refused, the matter could only be dealt with at the plenary legislative session, they said.
The meeting convenor, KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), finally accepted the DPP caucus’ demand, but the two sides could not reach a consensus after watching the video, which only had audio at the most contentious points of the May 10 session.
KMT Legislator Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) blamed the loss of video portion of the recording on the DPP caucus’ “sabotage,” which drew more protest from DPP lawmakers.
While the DPP caucus said the May 10 meeting was null and void, the KMT caucus said the meeting had followed proper procedures.
Forty minutes into the debate, Wu declared the afternoon session had officially began, but his decision was not recognized by DPP lawmakers.
Wu also refused to play a video the DPP caucus claimed had clearer sound and picture.
Wu then declared that the minutes of the May 10 meeting were confirmed and that the DPP caucus’ proposal to reverse the decision to approve the preliminary review of the amendments to the cross-strait bill was flawed and therefore invalid.
He surprised everybody when he announced at 4:55pm that the bill had passed the committee review and then adjourned the meeting’s afternoon session.
Wu was quickly swarmed by DPP lawmakers and in the ensuring melee he lost balance at one point and fell.
He quickly left the area.
During the fracas, DPP caucus whip Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) called Wu a “bandit,” saying his actions were not the way legislative disputes should be handled.
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