Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) yesterday dismissed Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) proposal that a “cross-strait affairs panel” be established to report to the legislature to strengthen its supervision of the government, saying that this could lead to a constitutional dispute.
Wang Yu-chi made the remarks before attending the 15th public hearing held by the legislature on the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement.
The legislative speaker put forth the idea on Saturday last week in an attempt to give lawmakers access to cross-strait trade negotiations, saying that the pact caused such controversy because the legislature had been left out of the agreement’s negotiations.
Photo: CNA
He also cited as an example the US’ trade negotiations with other nations, in which two US senators and two US representatives were allowed to participate in and supervise the negotiation process and routinely briefed US Congress on the latest progress.
Lawmakers have made similar suggestions in 2000, proposing that such a panel be led by the legislative speaker and made up of members recommended by various political parties in proportion to the number of their legislative seats.
“There have been calls for the government to set up a mechanism similar to the one implemented by the US for its trade talks to allow [the legislature] to participate in cross-strait trade negotiations. However, the US Congress is only allowed to join the negotiations because it is given the power by the US Constitution to regulate trade with other nations,” Wang Yu-chi said.
The minister added that only a handful of nations, including the US, but not including Taiwan, granted their parliaments such a right.
“The public is advised to take into account the reasons these nations designed their constitutions differently when discussing [the possibility of forming such a panel] to avoid a constitutional conflict,” Wang Yu-chi said.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said on Saturday last week that the party planned to place Wang Jin-pyng’s proposal on the agenda for the next legislative session, which is to begin on Feb. 21, “as the nation cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Meanwhile, Wang Yu-chi yesterday pledged to stand firm on the government’s position on cross-strait relations during his planned visit to China.
The government’s principal policy toward China remains unchanged — maintaining the “status quo” of “no unification, no independence, no use of force” based on the Republic of China Constitution, Wang Yu-chi said.
The MAC minister is expected to travel to China in the middle of next month to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍).
It will be Wang’s first visit to China in his official capacity and the first formal meeting between the two officials tasked with handling ties across the Taiwan Strait.
Seeking to keep Wang Yu-chi on a tight leash during the trip, legislators reached a cross-party consensus last week to forbid him from embarking on any negotiations, signing any papers or issuing any news releases or statements on such political issues as “one China,” the “one China framework,” “one country, two regions,” a “military confidence-building mechanism,” “peace agreement,” or “political relations arrangement in stages.”
The legislators also require that Wang Yu-chi should not accept or echo claims that put the nation’s sovereignty at risk, such as the “one China framework,” or “opposition to Taiwan independence.”
Additional reporting by Tseng Wei-chen
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,”
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
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS