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One of the top stories from this past week was that the ruling and opposition parties failed to pass several high profile pieces of legislation on Wednesday, the last day of the current legislative session.
At the heart of the discussions on Wednesday was a proposal to amend the constitution and reduce the voting age from 20 to 18. The measure was supported by the ruling and opposition parties. However, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) wanted to bundle that measure in a package along with several other issues, not all of which had opposition support.
The other issues included allowing absentee voting and requiring legislative approval for premier appointees. Another issue was enabling smaller parties to secure representation by reducing the threshold for appointing legislator-at-large seats from 5% to 3%.
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wanted to deal with the issues separately. Failure to pass the voting age amendment means that it will not advance to a referendum, which would have been decided along with next year’s presidential elections in January.
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Also this past week, Fisheries Agency Director-General Tsay Tzu-yaw said Friday that a visit of Taiwanese officials to the Philippines has helped to ease bilateral tensions over disputed waters.
Officials from government bodies including the Coast Guard Administration and Fisheries Agency were in the Philippines to encourage the Philippine government to adopt a bilateral fisheries agreement.
Tsay said that Taiwan and the Philippines have spent the past two years reaching a consensus on the content of a bilateral fishing agreement. However, he said that certain Philippine officials still have reservations about the agreement.
Taiwanese diplomats in the Philippines have expressed cautious optimism that the agreement could be signed before the end of July.
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And finally, this past week, Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairwoman and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen is set to appear on the cover of TIME Magazine’s international edition.
The US-based magazine is scheduled to publish an interview with Tsai entitled “She could lead the only Chinese democracy—and that makes Beijing nervous”. In the report, Tsai is quoted as saying that Taiwan needs “a new model”. She also says that she will work to reduce Taiwan’s economic reliance on China.
Tsai told local media on Friday that she hopes the interview with TIME Magazine will enable the international community to understand that Taiwanese people value democracy.