Taiwan Security Bills Blocked 1,297 Times, Watchdog Calls Legislature the Country’s Biggest ‘Fifth Column’

Five national security bills have spent more than eight months stuck in Taiwan’s legislature, while proposed rules governing lawmakers’ trips to China have reportedly been blocked 1,297 times.

The bills, approved by the Cabinet last December, would amend parts of the National Security Act, the Armed Forces Criminal Code, the Act Governing the Service of Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces, the Veterans Affairs Act and the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.

The Citizens’ Congress Watch said lawmakers from the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party caucuses blocked the bills in the Procedure Committee and the full legislature. The watchdog also criticized positions that would reduce penalties for showing allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party.

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The Legislative Yuan is Taiwan’s biggest fifth column.

Chang Hung-lin, the group’s executive director, said national security should rise above party politics. He accused the opposition of paralyzing efforts to strengthen Taiwan’s military and security defenses, and said the legislature had effectively become Taiwan’s biggest “fifth column.”

Chang said the conduct could mislead international partners into thinking Taiwanese people do not care about national security, while giving China the impression that it has an opportunity to seize Taiwan.

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National security issues transcend the blue-green divide.