Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday continued to equivocate about his inclination to serve as Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman, while reiterating the importance of negotiations in response to the recent legislative gridlock.
Wang was asked by reporters on the sidelines of a KMT caucus meeting about a recent report alleging that he provided documents to other KMT lawmakers about the viability of him assuming the role and continuing to hold a legislative seat.
He confirmed the report, saying he provided the analysis, because people “cannot just throw words around, so [documents about] the regulations were presented to let them understand how it works.”
However, Wang added that he would not discuss the issue with the media.
“Now is not the time for that discussion. Cross-strait interactions are not going well,” he said.
When asked if he agrees with remarks made on Thursday by Taiwan External Trade Development Council chairman Francis Liang (梁國新) about a chilly cross-strait relationship, Wang said the public can indeed see and feel that there are “black clouds” hanging over cross-strait relations.
Wang last month said he was approached about heading the SEF by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) emissaries, although in March he denied that any such offer had been made.
The former legislative speaker also reiterated that the legislature cannot function properly without cross-caucus negotiations.
“There was a time when there were six party caucuses, which together proposed more than 6,000 motions on the budget for government agencies, and the legislature spent a total of 15 days negotiating to build a foundation of mutual trust,” he said.
Wang said it is not easy to integrate the opinions of government agencies, the legislature and the caucuses, but added that without negotiations, the legislature does not have time to deal with that many motions, with the drag hurting legislative efficiency.
Wang on Thursday said that, in the past, the legislature would have more than 2,000 state-run enterprise budget-related motions, but votes were only carried out after about 40 cross-caucus negotiations.
Negotiations must be carried out during normal legislative sessions, not crammed in during an extraordinary session, Wang said, adding that the stalemate between the ruling and opposition parties is the accumulated product of the past several months and stressed the importance of mutual respect and discussion between party caucuses and lawmakers.
According to the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times), Wang on Wednesday said that the legislative gridlock had to some extent helped to “vindicate” him, as former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and “deep-blue” KMT members used to suspect Wang’s cross-caucus negotiation efforts of being an attempt to offer the then-minority Democratic Progressive Party caucus assistance.
The negotiations are intended to prevent endless voting and impasses on budget bills, such as what we are experiencing now, he said.
“This could help the deep-blue members understand what I have done for the party,” he added.
The heads of three major US banks on Wednesday pledged that they would withdraw from the Chinese market if Washington imposed sanctions on Beijing in response to an invasion of Taiwan. JP Morgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser told lawmakers at a hearing of the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services in Washington that the three banks would follow the guidance of the US government to exit China if necessary. The three bankers made the pledge after US Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer asked the three if they
HIGH STAKES: An attack on Taiwan could prompt a joint response from the US and Japan, and trigger a global conflict that could bring down the CCP, Liu Tai-ying said The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would not be able to launch an invasion of Taiwan for at least another 10 years, Taiwan Research Institute founder Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) said on Friday. To occupy Taiwan, China needs to transport at least 300,000 to 400,000 troops across the Taiwan Strait during battle, but it would lack the ability to do so for at least another decade, said Liu, a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) treasurer and a close aide to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). The challenges that China would face during an attempted invasion of Taiwan would be even greater than those
CHINA CRITIC: Prime ministerial candidate Giorgia Meloni, the front-runner in today’s election, said that she would not renew a Belt and Road Initiative deal with Beijing Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, the front-runner to become the country’s next prime minister, is expected to reverse course on Italy’s support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and strengthen ties with Taiwan if a coalition headed by her party wins the country’s general election today. “Without any doubt, if there is a center-right government, it is sure that Taiwan will be an essential concern for Italy,” Meloni told the Central News Agency in an interview. Italians are to vote in a snap election triggered by the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi following a failed attempt to get his coalition partners
HAWAII MODEL: While Hawaii held a referendum on becoming the 50th US state, Taiwan has never applied to join the People’s Republic of China, Miles Yu said China comparing Taiwanese independence to Hawaii seeking independence from the US is illogical, as Taiwan has never applied to be a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hudson Institute senior fellow Miles Yu (余茂春) said over the weekend. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, has given multiple talks asserting Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. In a speech to the Asia Society on Thursday, Wang likened Taiwan to Hawaii. “Just as the US would not allow Hawaii to break away,” Beijing “reserves the right” to seek unification, Wang told the gathering. The
RSS