Taiwan MP shoves proposal in mouth

May 31, 2006

Amid chaos in the Legislative Yuan over a proposal about creating direct transport links with Mainland China, Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party deputy, Wang Shu-hui, snatched the written proposal and shoved it into her mouth. Opposition members failed to get her to cough it up by pulling her hair. She later spat the proposal out and tore it up. This is the third time that the DPP’s actions have stopped a vote over this issue.

During the incident another DPP members, Chuang Ho-tzu, spat at an opposition member.

The amendment to the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area would have permitted direct transit between mainland China and Taiwan, which now has to be routed through an intermediate&mdash;usually Hong Kong. Opening such links is supported by the opposition pan-blue alliance, which controls the legislature, but opposed by the independence leaning DPP government.

Direct transport links between Taiwan and Mainland China have been banned after the two sides split amid a bloody civil war in 1949. The Communist government in the mainland and opposition politicians in Taiwan supporting Chinese reunification have vowed to lift the ban, but their efforts have repeatedly been blocked by the ruling DPP, which cites national security concerns.