Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is to lead a delegation of officials to US president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next month, Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee in Taipei yesterday.
Trump’s inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20.
Pan denied that efforts by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), with help from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), to pass amendments last week that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opposed could lead to Han being denied the opportunity to lead a delegation to the US.
Photo: Tu Chien-rong, Taipei Times
The amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法), the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) were approved on Friday last week.
KMT Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) asked Pan about media reports suggesting that Han could be denied the chance to visit the US as special envoy because of his party’s role in passing the controversial amendments to the three bills.
“There is no such thing,” Pan said, adding that he did not know where the reports originated.
Although it is not the norm for a legislative speaker to attend the inauguration of a US president, President William Lai (賴清德) invited Han to represent the presidency and the nation as the leader of a special delegation, Pan said, adding that he was instructed by Lai to meet with Han and discuss the matter three to four weeks ago.
If Han agrees to lead the delegation to the US and a final review is completed, Lai would instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out the plan, including confirming which other legislators would make the trip and arranging logistics, Pan said.
On Sunday, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that Lai had asked Han to lead a delegation and the ministry had asked the main political parties to nominate representatives to join it.
There are to be two representatives each from the DPP and the KMT, as well as one from the TPP, a notice from the Legislative Yuan’s Department of International Affairs showed.
The delegation is scheduled to be in the US from Jan. 18 to 24, it said.
The KMT on Tuesday sent notices to its members to register interest and held a draw yesterday afternoon at 5pm to determine who would go.
KMT Legislators Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) and Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) won and are set to join the delegation.
Additional reporting by CNA
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