The legislature is once again operational and lawmakers met yesterday for the first plenary session in more than three weeks after a student-led occupation ended on Thursday night.
Before the brief meeting was adjourned, legislators of the ruling and opposition parties agreed to refer to committees the nomination of a new state prosecutor-general and a proposed bill on closer oversight of cross-strait agreements.
Seven different versions of the new legislation, including one each from the administration and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), are to be reviewed soon by the Internal Administration Committee.
The nomination of Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) as the successor to former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) is to be jointly reviewed by the Internal Administration Committee and the Judicial and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
The floor session called by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday morning lasted about seven minutes, but signified a step forward for legislators seeking to resume parliamentary duties.
Hundreds of demonstrators occupied the legislature’s main chamber from March 18 until Thursday in protest against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement, which forced the cancelation of plenary sessions for the duration of the action.
Wang yesterday thanked the public for their understanding and support and said he hopes everyone can put aside their differences and be more tolerant of each other.
Wang also reiterated that taxpayer money would not be used to restore or repair the legislative buildings.
Later yesterday, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said it would hold a public hearing on Monday during the Internal Administration Committee meeting to discuss the proposed cross-strait agreements oversight bill.
However, the DPP said that it has motioned for a reconsideration of the bill, thereby canceling the bill’s referral to the committee.
KMT deputy caucus whip Wang Ting-son (王廷升) and Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said the procedure was legitimate and said that the DPP should not boycott the public hearing.
They told a press conference that the KMT is “to hold the public hearing following legal regulations and responding to the people’s demands.”
“The resolution of the cross-party negotiation, announced earlier this morning on the legislative floor, clearly stated that the oversight draft bills are to be ‘immediately’ referred to the committee for review,” Wu said.
KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) is to convene the Internal Administration Committee meeting on Monday.
“It doesn’t matter whether it was the [students’] demand to complete the institutionalization of the oversight mechanism before the review of the service trade agreement or [President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] initiating legislation and a review simultaneously, both would agree that the legislative process needs to begin as soon as possible,” Wu said, adding that it is currently “the greatest common denominator” in the controversy.
When asked whether the KMT would, after Monday’s public hearing for the oversight bill, again place the service trade agreement on the agenda for Wednesday or Thursday’s Internal Administration Committee meetings, Wu replied that urban renewal would be the focus of the Wednesday meeting and that Thursday’s agenda “has not been confirmed.”
Following the KMT’s press conference, the DPP caucus told a press conference in the afternoon that it has proposed a reconsideration of the bill, which would delay referral of the proposal to the Internal Administration Committee until a resolution was made in the next legislative floor meeting, scheduled for Friday next week.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) is scheduled to be the convener presiding over the Internal Administration Committee meeting the following week.
DDP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said the proposed bill reconsideration is also “in line with legislative regulations” and would exclude Chang from placing the bill on the agenda next week.
“We will not allow the KMT and Chang, who is tainted by his 30-second travesty [attempting to push through the service trade pact on March 17], to again put their thumb on the Internal Administration Committee review scales,” Gao said.
KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said that the “immediate referral of the oversight draft bill to the Internal Administration Committee” was a conclusion of the cross-party negotiations that passed during the floor meeting and should not be restricted by the DPP’s proposed reconsideration.
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SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
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