Although a public hearing proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to cover a draft of a special prevention and relief measures act, was canceled after drawing fire, progress on the draft would continue, KMT caucus secretary-general Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday.
The KMT, after requiring representatives from almost every Cabinet-level agency to participate in the hearing planned for today, drew harsh criticism from the public, who said that the meeting was a waste of time and resources, as officials had been working against the clock every day in efforts to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus.
The party has postponed the public hearing, Chiang told reporters after a caucus meeting.
Despite the delay, the KMT would introduce the draft, hoping that it could pass the third legislative reading as soon as possible, Chiang said.
The purpose of the hearing was to expedite progress on the draft by discussing the details of supportive measures, resources and subsidies that the government can offer in this prevention period, KMT caucus convener Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said.
The hearing would not only benefit society, but also provide government agencies with a legal basis for executing policies, Lin added.
However, as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) disagrees, the KMT would not push for it, Lin added.
“The public hearing should not be politicized,” said KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who is running in the party’s chairperson by-election.
“The KMT stands with the public and is placing prevention efforts at the top of the list,” Chiang added.
In addition to the special act, the caucus on Tuesday urged the government to set up a special fund of NT$50 billion (US$1.66 billion) dedicated to efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, especially as the registration system for buying of surgical masks began yesterday.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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