President of the Legislature Wang Jin-pyng is calling on the ruling and opposition parties to cooperate with each other in order to resume the stalled review of a controversial trade in services pact with China.
The legislative chamber has been occupied by student protestors since Tuesday night. The occupation stopped a schedule review of the agreement in a plenary session.
Wang told the media on Saturday that a key issue to be addressed is whether the agreement should be sent back to legislative committees or be allowed to proceed to the legislature floor for a vote. He said the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) has shown goodwill, but he also said details of how the agreement will be reviewed still need to be worked out.
On Friday lawmakers of the ruling KMT reached a consensus to conduct an article-by-article review of the agreement. Under an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties last year, both sides agreed to such a review. But earlier this week a ruling party lawmaker sent the pact straight to the legislative floor without a review. The lawmaker said his action was a last resort because the opposition Democratic Progressive Party had continued to block the review.