Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday used their majority advantage to pass a motion to have Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) handed over to the legislature’s Discipline Committee for allowing a representative of an activist group to sit in during a legislative committee hearing and “harass” a KMT legislator last week.
Representatives of Taiwan March, an activist group that has been pushing for the passage of amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), sat in on a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee on Thursday last week to review the act. Their presence was sanctioned by Yao, the committee convener who presided over the meeting that day.
After the meeting adjourned, Taiwan March founder and Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) confronted KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), accusing him of spouting nonsense and obstructing the review of the Referendum Act, and calling him the “shame of the legislature.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The KMT caucus voted during a meeting of the Procedure Committee yesterday that Yao be subjected to disciplinary review, citing regulations barring public attendance in legislative committee meetings and for his failure to control the behavior of the activists.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-lang (蔡煌瑯) tried to dissuade his KMT colleagues from approving the move, saying Yao had called Chang after the meeting to express his disapproval over Huang’s yelling at a lawmaker.
Tsai added that whether civic groups should be allowed to sit in on committee meetings could be further negotiated.
The KMT lawmakers rejected Tsai’s suggestion, with KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) saying that Yao’s decision to open up the meeting to activist group members, who were “echoed and supported by a dozen more outside the building,” posed a threat to “lawmakers and the dignity of the legislature.”
Lin added that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had agreed that Yao should be subject to possible disciplinary measures by the Discipline Committee.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) quoted DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming’s (柯建銘) past remarks on legislative regulations barring civil groups from legislative committee meetings, adding that they would also create pressure on legislators.
“I left the meeting in the afternoon [on Thursday] when the committee was starting to review the act, because I was not willing to express my opinions under fear and pressure,” Wu said.
The KMT lawmakers passed the motion, placing it on the agenda for Friday’s legislative session. However, it is not likely to be dealt with soon, if ever, as it has been placed at close to the bottom of the day’s agenda.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS