International experts express concern over ‘legislative reform’

International experts express concern over ‘legislative reform’

2024-05-20

The opposition parties’ push for “legislative reform” is capturing global attention. Thirty international scholars, politicians, and media professionals have signed a statement expressing concern over the so-called reform. On Monday, one signatory warned that the changes would harm Taiwan’s democracy. Another said that such “reform” would be unconstitutional and undermine the president’s authority.

Experts from several countries have voiced concern about Taiwan’s legislature. They say they fear more chaos when parliament reconvenes on Tuesday.

William A. Stanton
Former AIT director
I’m truly shocked and saddened that opposition representatives are trying to introduce unconstitutional changes to Taiwan government policies and procedures that would subvert Taiwan’s democratically elected president and his government. This is inconsistent with the civility of the Taiwanese I know.

The group included former AIT Director William A. Stanton, legal consultant Michael Fahey, and Formosan Association for Public Affairs President Bob Yang. Also present was George Mason University Professor Gerrit van der Wees, who expressed concern that the scuffles could give rise to a second Sunflower Movement.

Gerrit van der Wees
George Mason University professor
Remind us more of the black box that led to the Sunflower Movement just [10] years ago, they undermined Taiwan’s democracy and seriously damaged Taiwan’s international standing.

The professor said last Saturday’s scuffles at the Legislative Yuan undermined Taiwan’s democratic processes. Some scholars accused the opposition of using legislative reform as a pretext to expand parliamentary powers, while eroding the powers of the Executive Yuan. One proposal aims to codify contempt of the legislature as a crime, scholars said. Although such a crime does exist in other countries, no other democracy charges individuals for contempt based on their responses in question-and-answer sessions.

Bob Yang
Formosan Association for Public Affairs
International scholars, politicians and press people are very concerned about the situation here, so they have put their names here to endorse this statement.

The statement has 30 signatories, including two former AIT directors. As the legislature moves to vote on the reforms on May 21, the international community is closely watching.

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