Five national security amendments that Taiwan's Executive Yuan passed last December have been stuck in the Legislative Yuan for more than eight months, and none has cleared a third reading. The cabinet said on Sept. 6 that the bills should not be delayed again and again, and its spokesperson, Lee Hui-chih, spoke on the package that day.
What would the cabinet's bills do? The package, which the Liberty Times reported includes amendments to the National Security Act and the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, was passed by the Executive Yuan council amid a string of Chinese Communist spy cases. The drafts would strip military personnel who defect to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of their retirement pay, severely punish soldiers who pledge loyalty to the CCP, and require legislators to obtain permission before travelling to China.
Which other proposals have been blocked? Across the current legislature's five sessions, Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) legislators blocked national security proposals 1,297 times in the Procedure Committee and in plenary sittings, among them one to regulate legislators' trips to China, the Liberty Times reported. Fifteen Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, including Puma Shen, filed several versions of that proposal and a national security amendment to the Social Order Maintenance Act, aiming to stop certain public officials, retired military personnel and legislators from going to China to "receive instructions." None has yet been referred to committee for review. KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi and several other KMT legislators have met China's Taiwan Affairs Office six times in recent years, the paper reported.
What have critics said? Citizen Congress Watch said the legislature includes collaborators with China and that the KMT and TPP keep blocking national security bills, calling the Legislative Yuan "Taiwan's biggest fifth column." DPP legislators asked what exactly the two parties were afraid of.
What happened in the military code review? KMT legislator Weng Hsiao-ling, while the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces was under review, called for lower sentences for soldiers who defect to the CCP, citing freedom of speech, the Liberty Times reported. Officials said that amounted to helping the CCP throw open a back door into national security.
