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One of the top stories from this past week was the new legislature has elected the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Su Jia-chyuan as its president on Monday. The move follows last month’s elections which handed the DPP its first-ever majority in the 113-seat legislature.
The new legislative session, which began on Monday, saw the first transition of political party power from the Kuomintang (KMT) to the DPP in the legislative body in 68 years. Su is also the first non-KMT member to serve as legislature president.
Su is a former interior minister and a former DPP secretary-general. He represented the southern county of Pingtung for two terms in the legislature, from 1992 to 1997. His party selected him this year to fill one of its legislator-at-large seats.
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Also this past week, the DPP has announced that it will meet with representatives of the outgoing Ma administration to discuss the handover of power to President-elect Tsai Ing-wen.
On Friday, Director of the party’s Department of News and Information Alex Huang said that the date of the meeting has been set for February 19.
Presidential Office Spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo confirmed that the meeting will take place on February 19, but said that the two sides have not decided on the details of the meeting.
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And finally, this past week, the economics ministry has been preparing a list of suggestions for regulatory reforms designed to bring Taiwan closer to its goal of joining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The twelve-nation trade agreement was formally signed in New Zealand on Thursday. Although Taiwan was not among the signatories, the government is actively working to secure Taiwan’s future inclusion in the trade agreement.