《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Opposition reject proposal for Ma to report on meeting

AFTER HORSE HAS BOLTED: Opposition parties said the time for legislative oversight was before the meeting took place, and that a report would be only political theater

By Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

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Opposition parties yesterday rejected a proposal to have President Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） report on his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平） to the legislature and withdrew from the Procedure Committee meeting in protest.

A cross-caucus negotiation was held and failed to reach an agreement over the proposal, motioned by the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT）, to invite the president to report to the legislature on the meeting that took place in Singapore on Saturday.

It was the second discussion over the proposal, following one called by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng （王金平） on Friday last week, which likewise broke down due to the opposition parties’ disapproval.

Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus whip Lai Chen-chang （賴振昌） said that legislative oversight would only be meaningful if it were enacted before the Ma-Xi meeting had taken place.

With the meeting over and Ma making a statement supporting the “one China” principle, a report on the fait accompli would be meaningless, he added.

The KMT then placed the proposal on the legislative agenda in the Procedure Committee yesterday afternoon to be referred to the general assembly for discussion on Friday.

KMT and opposition lawmakers again exchanged barbs over the proposal in the committee meeting, before the latter withdrew in protest.

KMT Legislator Chen Pi-han （陳碧涵） said she would want the president to report to the legislature about “the process and the achievement [of the meeting]” and asked opposition lawmakers not to boycott the assembly on Friday.

“I also want to call on Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） not to try to block the DPP lawmakers’ free voice,” she added.

DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu （尤美女） said that Ma wishes to have the legislature’s endorsement only after the meeting is an “utter deviation from the democratic system.”

“Taiwanese do not need to watch a play staged by Ma and the KMT lawmakers to feign ‘legislative supervision’ after the president has already sold out the people with his ‘one China’ framework,” Yu said.

“The Ma-Xi meeting is a major event that would have great repercussions on Taiwan’s future; it nevertheless completely sidestepped the legislature’s [prior] oversight, without even informing the legislative speaker,” she said. “There is no need for Ma to look for positive appraisal in the legislature, as the Ma-Xi meeting and the ‘one China’ principle will be duly assessed by Taiwanese on Jan. 16.”

Separately, KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu’s （朱立倫） campaign office spokesperson Hsu Chiao-hsin （徐巧芯） said more than half of the respondents to a recent survey conducted by the Chinese-language United Daily News supported Ma delivering a report on the Ma-Xi meeting to the legislature.

“Chairperson Tsai should request her party members to abandon opposition to Ma’s plan to make a national report at the Legislative Yuan to allow the public to have a detailed understanding of the meeting’s process,” Hsu said.

Hsu said the DPP’s rejection of Ma’s intended report underscored the party’s double standards and that its voluntary renouncement of its supervisory duty would surely disappoint the people.

Politicians should prioritize the needs and interests of their nation and people, instead of placing elections above everything else, Hsu said.（Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu）

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES