The Legislative Yuan yesterday sent Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yu-jen’s (陳玉珍) draft amendments to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例), as well as draft amendments to the Act Governing the Settlement of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例) proposed by KMT Legislator Yu Hao (游灝) directly to the second reading with the support of the Taiwan People’s Party.
Chen’s proposed amendment concerns the establishment of a “Free Trade Zone” of outlying islands, while Yu’s proposed amendments seek to exclude the China Youth Corps from being classified as an affiliated organization of a political party.
Provisions of Article 18-1 of the development act are insufficient to address the development needs of outlying islands, Chen said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
To boost economic growth and industrial development in the areas, to improve regional economic and trade integration, and facilitate the flow of people, goods and technology, the proposal aims to leverage the geographical advantages of the islands, she said.
With the spirit of “pilot implementation” for offshore islands, the proposed changes seek to find new economic drivers for the region, she said.
The idea is to designate areas on the islands as “free-trade demonstration zones,” with authority for their establishment and management granted to local governments of the islands.
Meanwhile, Yu said that the proposed amendments to the party assets act reflect that the China Youth Corps was the first civil organization in Taiwan to transform into a “service-oriented social enterprise focused on public welfare.”
However, it has been wrongly classified by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee as a KMT-affiliated organization, resulting in all of its assets being frozen, he said.
This has severely infringed upon the autonomy and normal development of public welfare organizations, he added.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus criticized Chen’s proposal as allegedly helping China to whitewash the origin of products.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that Chen’s proposal would open a backdoor for Chinese products through the so-called “free-trade zones,” paving the way for China’s “one country, two systems.”
The DPP accused Yu of advocating the proposed changes as part of an attempt of protect KMT assets.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS