The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it intended to include three controversial bills aimed at allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan and giving recognition to Chinese credentials during the second planned extra legislative session in August.
“Since the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] has also proposed its own versions of the bills, we should be able to negotiate the bills [during the session],” KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said.
Lin's confirmation came after Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) told a meeting of private university presidents at Fu Jen Catholic University on Monday that he expected the bills to clear the legislative floor in August.
Wu said the bills “will absolutely” be included on the agenda, adding that if everything went smoothly, local universities would begin recruiting students from China in the next academic year.
Wu said about 2,000 Chinese students would be able to enroll in local universities after amendments take effect, adding that the ministry was opposed to writing the number of students in the law because the cap could be relaxed over the years.
The KMT caucus plans to call two extra legislative sessions — one by the middle of next month and the other in the middle of August — to review the government's planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The KMT and the DPP have been debating whether the legislature should review the agreement article by article.
The inclusion of the three Chinese students-related bills in the agenda for the extra sessions adds to the possibility of conflict on the legislative floor.
KMT and DPP legislators had scuffled during a number of committee sessions in the spring session when lawmakers were scheduled to review the bills.
Both parties still cannot see eye-to-eye regarding a DPP request to enshrine in law a series of restrictions targeting Chinese students proposed by the Ministry of Education.
DPP caucus secretary-general Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) yesterday called on the KMT caucus not to include the controversial bill in the extra sessions, adding that if it did so, the DPP caucus would “strongly boycott” the bill, as it did in the last session.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS