The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) today said it has accepted President William Lai’s (賴清德) invitation for a national security briefing at the Presidential Office on Wednesday, while the Taiwan People’s Party has not confirmed its attendance.
Last week, the Presidential Office invited KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and TPP chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), to an in-depth briefing with the Ministry of National Defense, Mainland Affairs Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Bureau.
KMT Secretary-General Justin Huang (黃健庭) said he had spoken to Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) on Sunday, and that Chu was optimistic about a potential meeting.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the invitation was a show of goodwill and expressed her hope that it would mark a step toward unifying the opposition and ruling parties.
The meeting is a genuine invitation to share Taiwan’s national security situation with the opposition parties and gather support for taking necessary steps to improve Taiwan’s resilience, Wu added.
The KMT caucus told a news conference today that although the president’s motives are not yet clear, the party is willing to go into the meeting with “an open mind,” seeking to have a substantive discussion with the ruling party.
KMT Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) called on the DPP to stop its “two-faced” tactics by calling for unity with the opposition while also pushing for mass recall campaigns.
The first 30 minutes of the meeting, during which Lai would speak, would be open to the public, while the national security briefing and subsequent discussion would be closed-door, TPP Secretary-General Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修) said.
The meeting’s format makes it seem like the opposition leaders would be listening to a report, Huang said, adding that he hopes for direct communication with the president.
Huang has not confirmed his attendance.
This is an important step for cross-party discussions, and although he is happy to listen to the president, the public expects a two-way dialogue, Huang said.
The lack of details provided prior to the meeting makes him wonder whether it might only lead to further political debates and power struggles, rather than positive exchanges, Huang added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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