Marathon negotiations between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses narrowly averted tussles in two key legislative committees yesterday, as parrying over transitional justice legislation continued.
Following talks on Tuesday and yesterday morning with the Internal Administration Committee’s co-convener Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) of the KMT, former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福), DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said an agreement was reached to overturn decisions at a meeting of the committee on Monday night in return for an adjustment to public hearings on transitional justice legislation that the KMT had demanded.
“We have both taken a step back because we want legislative business to proceed smoothly with everyone able to state their views,” Ker said. “Transitional justice legislation is unavoidable because it reflects a core DPP value — as does legislation on illicit party assets.”
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“This is a time for both parties to display calm, because it is not good for anyone’s public image if clashes continue,” he said.
Ker said that the committee’s passage of amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) would only lead to conflict and tension if put to a vote in a general assembly.
The KMT attempted to pass the amendments late on Monday, despite a lack of a majority.
Throughout Monday afternoon, DPP and KMT committee members were in a deadlock over the proposed amendments, which would shorten residency requirements for Chinese spouses to gain national ID cards from six years to four years, with Huang repeatedly declaring recesses rather than allowing votes on DPP motions to adjourn.
After the official scheduled conclusion of the committee meeting, Huang returned to the committee room with other KMT members, taking advantage of the absence of DPP members to pass the amendments, saying later that such “guerilla warfare” was necessary to combat the DPP’s “majoritarian violence.”
“We have always said that we want the legislative process to run smoothly and allow for substantial discussion, but the opinions of both the majority and minority have to be respected,” Huang said yesterday. “You cannot use a motion to adjourn to keep us from talking.”
Huang agreed to overturn the minutes of Monday’s committee meeting, returning the amendments to the committee review process.
The DPP maintained that combining a review of the amendments with revisions to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), the Nationality Act (國籍法) and a proposed refugee law is inappropriate.
Controversy also erupted at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee this week after the committee’s DPP majority yesterday moved to convene a final public hearing on the promotion of transitional justice.
The hearing is to be held on Monday next week, according to yesterday’s agreement.
While the committee passed a resolution calling for KMT and DPP co-convers to each hold two public hearings on the legislation before substantive review begins, KMT co-convener Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) previously failed to agree to a date for his second hearing.
Monday’s passage of amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area in some ways echoed an earlier passage of legislation directed at the KMT’s “illicit party assets” after the Internal Administration Committee’s DPP majority voted to extend a meeting until legislative review is completed, sparking a KMT walkout.
However, no formal resolution was passed to extend Monday’s meeting into the evening, creating controversy over whether the Internal Administration Committee was still in session on Monday night when Huang announced the end of the afternoon recess.
“The only reason the KMT was willing to make an exchange [dropping Monday’s amendment passage] is because they care most about the ‘illicit asset’ and transitional justice promotion bills,” DPP Internal Administration Committee convener Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said, adding that the opposition party had sought to “bind” the issues together.
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