Deals with China should be included in the Legislative Yuan’s scheduled discussion on the draft treaty act as “a safety valve” is necessary for the future handling of cross-strait negotiations, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus said yesterday.
“The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus is advised to support the inclusion of China in the deliberation of the treaty act next week because early consultation, better communication and the room for renegotiation are all necessary in cross-strait engagements so that the interests of Taiwanese would be protected,” DPP lawmaker Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) told a news conference.
After President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) pledged inter-party collaboration in his New Year speech on Wednesday, the DPP proposed the establishment of a Legislative Yuan panel on cross-strait affairs, Gao added.
Responding to the initiative, KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said the procedure for legislative monitoring of cross-strait agreements is already in place, adding that while improvements to the mechanism are welcome, the DPP should not use procedural issues to block the cross-strait service trade agreement, which was signed in June last year, but has yet to clear the legislature.
“[The DPP’s] blocking of the service trade agreement would jeopardize Taiwan’s future economic development,” Lin said.
Lin said that ties between Taiwan and China are not country-to-country relations, but the DPP has always argued that China should be treated in the same manner as other countries when it comes to negotiations, treaties and agreements.
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
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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