The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday urged President William Lai (賴清德) to include issues such as energy security, economic development and artificial intelligence (AI) innovation in tomorrow’s national security briefing.
Lai proposed the briefing in his inauguration anniversary address on May 20. The Presidential Office invited KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) to the briefing.
KMT Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) yesterday said Lai ostensibly promoted cross-party solidarity while fueling a mass recall movement targeting the KMT lawmakers by meeting with United Microelectronics founder and former CEO Robert Tsao (曹興誠), who is leading the recall campaigns.
Photo: CNA
Lai should not have such an “intimate conversation” with Tsao to discuss recalls targeting opposition lawmakers if he genuinely seeks to communicate with heads of opposition parties, Ko said.
Aside from national security, other issues such as energy security, economic development and AI innovation should also be included in the briefing, he said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party government could not table a draft bill about AI during its eight years in office.
The KMT caucus hopes that dialogues between the governing and opposition parties could address such issues, he said.
Photo: CNA
Separately yesterday, the TPP expressed doubts about the briefing’s proceedings, asking why Lai cannot sit down with opposition party leaders as he did with Tsao “to engage in real opinion exchange.”
TPP Secretary-General Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修) said he got a phone call from Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) on Sunday, and Pan told him the briefing would take place tomorrow morning.
Lai would meet with opposition party leaders and deliver a 30-minute address to open the closed-door national security briefing, which is planned to take two hours, with a general discussion taking place after the president’s address, Chou cited Pan as saying.
Only the session where Lai meets attendees and delivers his address would be open to the public, he said, adding that the post-briefing discussion would be a closed-door event.
The Presidential Office’s arrangement would turn the meeting into a one-way dialogue by Lai and harm communication, Huang said.
“While the president [Lai] sat down with Tsao, one of the leaders of the mass recall movement, to have a face-to-face conversation, he invited opposition party leaders just to sit through a meeting listening to his speech and presentations,” he said.
The arrangement would go against Lai’s expressed intention to “frankly, genuinely exchange opinions and discuss national affairs with opposition parties,” he added.
There are other critical issues concerning Taiwanese, but Lai wanted to set the agenda of the briefing on national security only, he said, adding that Taiwanese want their president to address issues relevant to their livelihoods and that the governing party should communicate with opposition parties more directly.
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