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KMT blocking
discussion of nuclear bill: watchdog
NO DIFFERENT OPINIONS: The watchdog named an
‘iron triangle’ of legislators preventing the anti-nuclear bill from being
included on the legislative agenda
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
A legislative watchdog yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of
repeatedly blocking discussions over the cancelation of construction of the
Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市),
during meetings of the legislature’s Procedure Committee.
Citizen Congress Watch chairman Shih Shin-min (施信民) said that the Procedure
Committee is an important battleground to determine if a bill should be reviewed
by lawmakers, but that the KMT caucus is obstructing the opposition parties
proposing a bill on the power plant.
Shih said the committee had overstepped its authority by making itself more
important than the Legislative Assembly.
Shih added that the KMT had more than once halted the review of several bills,
including canceling the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and some
legislative reforms.
The committee does not allow different opinions to be expressed and fails to
operate transparently, he said, adding that it should put a discussion on a
nuclear-free homeland bill on the agenda of the next committee meeting.
The watchdog named KMT legislators Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍), Lee Guei-min (李貴敏) and
Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) as the “iron triangle” preventing the anti-nuclear bill
from being included on the agenda.
In response, KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) said that the government has
invested much in the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and the previous DPP
administration had done so as well.
“The DPP now comes out and says that the construction should be canceled,” Lin
said. “This shows the issue is really a political maneuver.”
Lin added that some of the proposed amendments to acts may be redundant or
similar, and these technical issues should be addressed by the Procedure
Committee.
“Many of the KMT’s bills have been blocked by the DPP,” Lin said. “It has really
no grounds to point the finger at others.”
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