All hell broke loose at the legislature yesterday after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus bombarded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers with water balloons, flour and eggs, prompting the DPP caucus to rush budget proposals for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program and 126 motions through committee review.
KMT caucus members first tried to filibuster the proceedings.
However, as soon as the last KMT lawmaker finished speaking, DPP Legislator Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), who chaired the meeting, instructed an emcee to read the motions tendered by the DPP, the New Power Party (NPP) and the People First Party (PFP).
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
KMT lawmakers had arrived armed with bags full of water balloons for such a moment and they began to hurl them at the DPP lawmakers at the rostrum.
Water balloons flew across room, hitting several fluorescent lights before smashing against the proscenium above the rostrum.
Water trickled down onto the DPP legislators, some of whom then donned raincoats, while others tried to fend off more balloons with placards while getting soaked.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
A bag of flour was also thrown and exploded on the board.
While most KMT lawmakers appeared to be aiming for the proscenium, KMT Legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善) took aim at DPP Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純), triggering a scolding from Ho.
KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) produced an egg and threatened to throw it.
“Lin Te-fu. Do not throw eggs. Otherwise, you are looking for a fight,” DPP Legislator Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said.
KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) threw the egg instead, but it was Lin Te-fu and KMT Legislator Sra Kacaw, who were standing nearby, who had to deal with the fallout.
DPP lawmakers Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) and Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) charged at Lin Te-fu, pinning him to the floor along with Sra.
Waves of scuffles ensued after the men got back to their feet.
With the meeting descending into total chaos, Wang put to a vote — in the form of a roll call — a DPP motion to send the 126 motions to cross-caucus negotiations next month.
The motion was backed by the DPP caucus, which has the legislative majority.
That angered several KMT lawmakers, who pushed over a desk and tried to drive it toward the rostrum like a siege ram, only to be vigorously blocked by DPP lawmakers.
Lin Wei-chou said that the KMT’s next mission would be to freeze as many unreasonable budget proposals linked to infrastructure development program as it can.
The DPP caucus criticized the KMT’s obstruction and its combative tactics.
“As hot as the weather is, this is the legislature, not a water park,” DPP caucus chief executive Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) said.
The “farce” staged by the KMT impeded lawmakers, including those from the DPP, PFP and NPP, from questioning, supervising or downsizing the infrastructure budgets, while allowing them to receive the approval of a cross-committee review without any discussion or modification, she said.
Only 16 KMT lawmakers — less than half of the KMT’s 35 legislators — attended the review, suggesting that most KMT lawmakers supported the infrastructure program, Yeh added.
“The KMT called three caucus meetings, only to discuss whether they should use water balloons or eggs,” DPP caucus secretary-general Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said. “Is this the KMT that KMT chairman-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) wants?”
The KMT’s boycott of the budget review was aimed to curry favor with staunch pan-blue supporters, whose opposition to the infrastructure program is intense, Lee said.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods