The second day of a legislative meeting scheduled to review the cross-strait service trade pact was marked with clashes and condemnations between lawmakers of the two political camps.
“There may be differences in opinion between different parties, but these differences should be resolved through negotiation, not violence,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) told a press conference yesterday. “We condemn the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] caucus for using violence against our caucus office director Chiang Kui-fang [江桂芳].”
Lin was referring to a scuffle which occurred in the afternoon, when DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) attempted to unplug a loudspeaker box belonging to the KMT caucus, as KMT lawmakers were speaking through loudspeakers, trying to interrupt the meeting.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“I did not use violence against Chiang, I was trying to stop the KMT from interrupting the meeting. Chiang wanted to stop me from what I was doing, and I had to defend myself,” Chiu said.
As the tussle between Chiu and Chiang ensued, legislators from both camps rushed over, adding to more pushing and shoving.
Amid the chaos, KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) collapsed and was rushed to the health center.
Photo: CNA
She was later diagnosed with several bone fractures in her arms and feet.
The conflict erupted as soon as DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who presided over the meeting, announced the beginning the meeting at 9am.
About one minute before the official start, Lin and KMT legislators delivered a petition, asking that the meeting to reject the official record of Wednesday’s review of the service trade pact, saying that there should not be a meeting transcript since nothing happened during the meeting.
Chen refused to take the petition, saying the meeting had not started. However, after announcing the beginning of the meeting, he confirmed there were no issues with the transcript of the previous day, despite the verbal and written protest from KMT lawmakers.
As the meeting degenerated into chaos, Chen announced that the meeting would go into recess, and left the podium.
When Legislative Yuan staffers stepped down from the podium with Chen, several KMT legislators — notably Alex Fai (費鴻泰) — ran after them, trying to stop them from leaving, and accused them of not being neutral.
DPP legislators Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) and Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) quickly moved to push Fai away, asking him “not to give staffers trouble.”
The meeting was again paused after the conflict between Chiu and Chiang, with Chen and his DPP colleagues again leaving the meeting room.
As Chen and DPP lawmakers did not return at the scheduled ending of the meeting at 5:30pm, KMT lawmakers declared the meeting adjourned, and said the caucus will hold meetings to review the services trade pact next week, when KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) is to serve as the rotating president of the Internal Administration Committee.
Meanwhile, the DPP caucus accused the KMT of resorting to lies and violence to block the review procedure.
Chen Chi-mai said the KMT caucus has been doing everything it could, including kicking Legislative Yuan staffers and blaming them for violation of neutrality and stealing away the registration form so that lawmakers could not speak in order, to compromise the meeting.
He also rejected the KMT’s claim that he failed to follow regulations and ignored Lin Hung-chih’s motion to reaffirm the proceedings.
“I was ready to accept [Lin’s] proposal, but he seemed to have a change of heart and hesitated. The next thing I knew, the scuffle between lawmakers began and he was never able to propose it again,” Chen Chi-mai said.
Additional reporting by Chris Wang
PILLAGING PENGHU: A 7,539-tonne Chinese ship found mining sand in the Formosa Banks area was escorted by several CGA ships to a Kaohsiung harbor The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday announced that it had dispatched ships to intercept Chinese dredging vessels operating in the nation’s territorial waters near Penghu and detained 10 crew members, who were transported to Kaohsiung. A coast guard patrol discovered more than 20 dredging vessels in an area known as the Formosa Banks, 46 nautical miles (85km) southwest of Penghu County’s Cimei islet (七美) at about 5am on Wednesday. The agency responded by dispatching two patrol boats, the 3,000-tonne Kaohsiung and the 500-tonne Penghu, along with two frigates, to intercept the Chinese vessels, while an airborne observation unit was used to monitor
‘HONEYMOON’ IS OVER: A political science professor said that the Tsai administration’s popularity peaked after it successfully contained COVID-19, but is waning President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) approval ratings fell significantly this month in the wake of the government’s handling of the distribution of relief funds and stimulus coupons to people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll released yesterday by the New Power Party (NPP) showed. The poll showed that 68 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Tsai’s performance, down 8.9 percentage points from last month, while 21 percent said they disapproved of her performance. Her approval among respondents aged 20 to 29 fell 14.7 percentage points, the largest decrease when compared with other age
CAUTION: The CECC would first observe how the nation fares after easing domestic restrictions and wait for the pandemic to further subside before making its next move The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that relaxing domestic restrictions and border controls simultaneously might complicate efforts to reopen the nation, amid discussions about Taiwan’s exclusion by other countries in their first lists of tourists. The center hopes for there to be a period of observation following the easing of domestic restrictions, before it decides what to do next, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a daily news briefing in Taipei. Chen was responding to a question about the reasoning behind the central government’s decision not to allow foreign students into the
Taiwan respects other countries’ decisions not to include it in their first lists of tourists allowed entry when they reopen their borders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The Yomiuri Shimbun on Sunday reported that the Japanese government was considering reopening the country to tourists from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand first. Greece on Friday announced that from June 15, it would allow visitors from 29 countries, including Australia, China, the Czech Republic, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea and Germany. Japan has not yet finalized its visitor list, but the ministry has conveyed its hope that Tokyo would
RSS