More than 30 non-profit organizations yesterday joined a mock review of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in the legislature yesterday, in an attempt to increase pressure on lawmakers to hold a substantive review of the controversial trade pact.
The mock review included representatives from human rights, labor and government watchdog organizations who later issued a joint statement saying that they were attempting to do the job that the legislature was supposed to carry out.
“Cross-strait agreements should be monitored on the basis of [looking after] Taiwan’s democracy, human rights ... environmental [issues] ... and sovereignty,” the statement said.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
It added that they would compile the viewpoints discussed during the review and forward them to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses.
The DPP caucus has boycotted the ECFA review in protest against a decision by the KMT caucus to bypass a committee review and send it straight to a second reading.
The group yesterday blasted the KMT’s move, saying it was “clearly illegal.”
Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強), convener of the session, said the recordings from the legislative session on July 8 clearly showed some DPP lawmakers rejecting a proposal to send the pact directly to a second reading.
“But the legislative speaker did not even hold a vote on it and directly announced the verdict ... there are clearly some defects in the process,” he said.
Suggestions later compiled from the session’s comments include correcting the legislative record to state that some legislators did express their opposition to sending the pact directly to a second reading, when lawmakers meet again next month. Another suggestion was to send it back to the legislative committee for further review and to hold public hearings.
Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳), an official with the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, denied that the mock review was politically motivated.
“Our aim is to monitor cross-strait agreements in the long-term. We are not involved with any particular political party and are non-partisan,” he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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