The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20.
Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee.
The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The invitation is in line with Article 15-2 of the Act on Exercising Legislative Yuan Powers (立法院職權行使法), Hung said, urging the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus not to block the measure.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is to chair cross-caucus negotiations and everything would be on the table, he added.
The TPP yesterday said that the legislature should hear a state of the nation address.
The legislature can invite the president to deliver such an address at the opening session every year, it said, adding that Lai should, by law, be required to answer legislators’ questions.
DPP caucus convener Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that Lai was amenable to making such an appearance and that the party was willing to discuss the issue during cross-caucus negotiations as long as the demands are legal.
The parties were unclear on whether Lai would leave after giving the address, or whether he should respond individually to each question or address all questions simultaneously, Wu said, suggesting that the party caucuses address the issue by clarifying Article 15-4 of the Legislative Yuan Powers Act.
The article states that party caucuses should discuss during cross-caucus negotiations the total time for questions, the number of people, the order in which they ask their questions and the number of questions allotted to parties based on legislative seats, should legislators still have questions after the president’s address.
Separately, DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposal to restrict elected representatives from visiting China was again blocked from being put on the discussion roster by the Procedure Committee.
The KMT also proposed removing the restrictions on people wishing to visit China, prioritize measures to allow Chinese tourists to visit the offshore counties of Kinmen, Penghu and Lienchiang, and increase prices for public food procurement from NT$26 per kilogram to NT$34 per kilogram.
Additional reporting by CNA
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