The New Power Party (NPP) caucus yesterday accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus of holding secret cross-caucus negotiations with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers.
The NPP held a news conference at 11am to denounce what they called a “clandestine meeting” between DPP and KMT lawmakers, as well as Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Legislative Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉).
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that NPP lawmakers found themselves in an empty general assembly chamber at 10am, the time the floor meeting should have resumed, and later found Su, Lin, DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), KMT caucus convener Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) and KMT Legislator and former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) meeting in the anteroom behind the speaker’s podium, rather than the room usually used for cross-caucus negotiations.
Huang said he was “shocked and very, very disappointed.”
“If the DPP and KMT caucuses wish to hold talks among themselves, that is fine, but the legislative speaker, the legislative secretary-general and legislative staffers were also present,” he said.
Huang pointed his finger at the legislative speaker, accusing Su of turning his back on the legislative reforms he had pledged and called for before taking office, including making the legislative procedure more transparent and the institutionalization of cross-caucus negotiations.
Lin said that Wang and some KMT lawmakers wanted to talk to the legislative speaker about procedural issues before the floor meeting, and Ker happened to come to the anteroom about the same time to explain the discussion agenda that the DPP caucus wanted to propose.
“It was when the discussion was taking place that Huang and NPP legislative caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) burst into the room and questioned whether the meeting was a cross-caucus negotiation,” Lin said.
He said that the impromptu exchange was a usual occurrence in the legislature and should not be mistaken for an official cross-caucus negotiation.
Ker said the KMT caucus threatened to boycott the legislative proceedings and the two caucuses were quarreling over the issue concerning the formality of the legislative proposals.
He said that it was not a cross-caucus negotiation over the bills and welcomed the participation of the NPP to “argue against the KMT.”
Sufin Siluko denied that the discussion was a clandestine meeting, saying they were leafing through the legislative regulations in an attempt to solve an impasse.
The NPP failed to show up at both cross-caucus negotiations scheduled at 11am and 2:30pm, forcing the negotiations to be postponed to following sessions.
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