Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said yesterday that the party was open to a line-by-line review of the cross-strait service trade agreement at the second reading stage in the legislature, but rejected the possibility that the pact be returned for a committee review.
Lin made the remarks to reporters after a meeting called by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday afternoon at his residence.
Wang invited the caucus whips of the KMT, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) to discuss the ongoing gridlock as the protest against the agreement entered its fourth day.
The DPP did not attend the meeting.
Prompted by a KMT ruling on Monday that the trade pact be sent to a second reading in the legislature for a vote as a whole amid a disagreement with the DPP about which party should take charge of a review at the committee stage, tens of thousands of students and protesters staged a protest which has paralyzed the operations of the legislature since Tuesday.
Lin said he restated the party’s position to Wang that the trade pact had already cleared the committee stage on Monday, but the party was open to a review process at the second reading stage in response to calls that the agreement be subject to a review on a clause-by-clause basis.
TSU Legislator Lai Chen-chang (賴振昌) said the party supports the demands of the protesters that the government reject the agreement and that lawmakers pass legislation to increases legislative supervision of cross-strait negotiations.
No consensus was reached on how to resolve the dispute, the lawmakers said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS