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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 KMT accused of planning public hearing upheavals
A group of black-clad people enter a public hearing in Kaohsiung on Saturday on the proposed easing of a ban on food imports from five Japanese prefectures. The men allegedly created disturbances at the hearing. Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
TIGER OR CAT The KMT chairwoman should apologize for disturbing public hearings, a DPP spokesman said, adding that the KMT is succumbing to pressure from Beijing
By Chen Wei-han and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporters
The Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） yesterday criticized the government over its threats of legal action against those opposed to the easing of bans on food imports from five Japanese prefectures, while the Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） said the KMT had provoked conflict and succumbed to Beijing’s agenda.
DPP spokesman Juan Chao-hsiung （阮昭雄） asked KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu （洪秀柱） to apologize for what he said was the deliberate disruption of public hearings on Saturday and yesterday.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday last week announced that it would hold 10 public hearings nationwide on whether to lift a five-year-old ban on Japanese food products from five prefectures imposed after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Eight public hearings were held over the weekend, with two more scheduled for today in Taitung and Hualien County.
The DPP and the KMT yesterday traded barbs over rowdy protests at the hearings.
Hearings in Tainan and Yunlin County on Saturday were disrupted by a crowd led by KMT councilors, while a hearing in Taipei yesterday was obstructed by KMT legislators and councilors occupying the stage to stop the hearing.
Hung might have ordered KMT councilors and alleged gang members to obstruct the hearings in a bid to boost her re-election prospects in next year’s KMT chairperson election, Juan said.
“While the KMT is as fierce as a tiger when its is obstructing the government, it turns into a docile kitten when confronted with China, surrendering its status as the nation’s biggest opposition party,” Juan said.
KMT officials, including former vice chairman Chan Chun-po （詹春柏）, former secretary-general Hsu Shui-teh （許水德） and former Legislative Yuan deputy speaker Yao Eng-chi （饒穎奇）, as well as retired military officials including former lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai （吳斯懷）, attended an event with Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平） in China on Friday.
“The orderly attendance of KMT members and their endorsement of China’s political agenda, juxtaposed with the violent disruption [of the hearings] by KMT councilors, is ironic,” Juan said.
Juan said the hearings were organized according to last week’s legislative resolution, and that the disruptions cost the public its right to understand government policies.
The DPP has had a consistent position on food imports, which is that they have to be regulated in accordance with scienctific and international standards, Juan said.
Food products from Fukushima Prefecture are to remain banned, while products other than tea, water, infant formula and aquatic products from Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures would not be permitted without certificates of radiation inspection and certificates of origin, the DPP said.
The KMT condemned the Executive Yuan’s decision to have the National Police Agency investigate whether the behavior of several people wearing black clothing who stormed hearings in Yunlin and Kaohsiung on Saturday were obstructing official business and interfering with personal freedoms.
Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung （徐國勇） on Saturday said that the decision was made after complaints were received that the groups had created disturbances at the hearings, including flipping over tables.
“The fact that the DPP tried to hold the public hearings in such a hurry suggests that it intends to fill the events with its own people and rush the process to patronize dissenting lawmakers,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi （胡文琦） said in a news release.
Since the DPP said people have the right to know, it should disclose the content of a tacit, backroom deal reached between Japan and President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文）, because it has apparently forced the DPP administration to hold nominal public hearings and ignore the public, Hu said.
“Is it true that the Tsai administration would have a chance for People First Party Chairman James Soong （宋楚瑜）, who is to serve as Tsai’s envoy to this year’s APEC meeting, to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as reported in the news?” Hu said.
If so, the government has sold out Taiwan, he said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
