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
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
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
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS