Taiwan’s lawmakers on Monday continued to discuss an anti-infiltration bill which is aimed at preventing hostile forces from influencing Taiwan’s political and election systems. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is hoping to push the bill through the legislature on Tuesday, the last day of the year.
The DPP shrugged off criticism that the bill targets China as a way of getting leverage in the upcoming elections on January 11. The DPP says the bill is for Taiwan’s national security, and that the party is not against cross-strait exchanges.
So far, progress has been slow and lawmakers have only found consensus on two issues. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill Tuesday.
The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) says that it agrees with the importance of any bill that would strengthen national security and maintain stability within the country. It said it was concerned, though, that innocent people could break the law without knowing it. The KMT called for basic human rights to be taken into consideration.
On Monday, the KMT suggested a registration process that would allow anyone acting as a proxy for a foreign government to register with Taiwan’s government. It said that the measure would help make it more transparent if someone has broken the law. It also said that other countries have adopted similar procedures.
But the DPP rejected the possibility of using a registration process. The head of the DPP legislative caucus, Ker Chien-ming, said the situation is different in countries which have employed the measure, like the US and Australia. The difference, he said, is that there’s hostility in Taiwan’s relationship with China.