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
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