Taiwan is facing severe national security threats due to enemy infiltration and espionage activities inside the legislature, Chinese funding to meddle in elections and influence politicians, and lawmakers colluding to slash the government’s fiscal budget and blocking bills to enhance safeguards for Taiwanese sovereignty, Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) said yesterday.
Unlike the US’ bicameral congress, Taiwan has a unicameral legislature, placing national sovereignty at a greater risk, “because all legislative bills, government budgets and top official appointments need only to be approved by [a single-house] legislature, and when it is involved in a security breach, the government and society as a whole are in danger,” CCW director Chang Hung-Lin (張宏林) told a news conference in Taipei.
“This past year, we saw two opposition parties acting to betray the interests of this country and its people... We also have had multiple cases of infiltration targeting lawmakers and their aides to spy for China,” Chang said.
Photo: Fang Bin-chao, Taipei Times
CCW’s main work is to monitor and evaluate the performance of lawmakers, but the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have refused to cooperate, he said.
CCW executives listed eight major national security crises in Taiwan’s legislative system: enemy infiltration into lawmakers’ offices and their aides to spy for China; disinformation campaigns to sow conflict in the legislature; Chinese money being channeled into Taiwan to interfere in elections and buy influence; courts handing out too lenient sentences on Chinese espionage cases; too few legislators speaking up for Taiwanese sovereignty; opposition parties slashing budgets to paralyze the ruling party; a lack of awareness and safeguards for information security in the legislature; and failure to stop leaks of classified information during legislative meetings to discuss military affairs, weapons procurement and national security issues.
CCW chairman Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) presented a “list of worst legislators” whose actions have undermined national security and betrayed Taiwan’s interests by using legislative procedures and underhanded ploys to impede the progress of important bills to boost defense spending and safeguard Taiwan from Chinese infiltration and leaking of state secrets.
Topping the list is KMT Legislator Lin Shih-ming (林思銘), who blocked 124 national security-related bills this legislative session.
TPP legislators Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) tied for second place, as both blocked 110 national security-related bills, while KMT Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) placed fourth for blocking 41 such bills.
They were followed in descending order by KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), who blocked 25 similar bills, and three KMT legislators-at-large — Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) and Lin Chien-chi (林倩綺), who blocked 24, 23 and 23 such bills respectively, Tseng said.
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