The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday again blocked the passage of a resolution — initiated by some of its members — that would demand an apology from Beijing over the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) spat last month and urge Chinese authorities to release dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波).
This was the second time the KMT used its majority in the legislature to delay passage of the bill.
On Nov. 5, the KMT used its vote to delay the passage of two similar motions by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and referred them back for interparty negotiation, making it impossible to put the bill to a plenary session during the month-long negotiation period.
In its first proposal, the KMT said the Executive Yuan should declare Chinese official Jiang Ping (江平) persona non grata over the incident in which, in his capacity as head of China’s delegation to the film festival, Jiang demanded before a ceremony that the Taiwanese delegation change its title to “Chinese Taipei” or “Taiwan, China.”
In the other proposal, the KMT called on Chinese authorities to improve their treatment of dissidents, release Liu as soon as possible so that he could receive his Nobel Peace Prize in person, approve the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, reform its political regime and incorporate the principles of democracy and freedom.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said the KMT’s proposals were not strong enough, adding that the DPP insisted on the suspension of cross-strait negotiations until Beijing had apologized over the film festival incident, which the KMT then used to justify its decision to block the bill.
“They could have passed the legislature [yesterday], if the DPP had not made a motion to revise the proposals,” KMT caucus whip Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) said.
Given its majority in the legislature, the KMT could still have passed the bill.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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