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Bill to establish international affairs unit under Legislature passes

ROC Central News Agency

05/12/2023 09:10 PM

Taipei, May 12 (CNA) An amendment bill to establish an international affairs department under the Legislature to promote parliamentary diplomacy passed on Friday.

According to the amendment bill of the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan, the new department will be tasked with handling international exchanges and cooperation between the Legislature and its foreign counterparts.

The division will also assist individual lawmakers or lawmaker groups in engaging in international activities, the bill states.

Under the bill, the department will also be responsible for receiving foreign guests visiting the Legislature and hosting relevant activities.

According to a report sent to members of the Legislature's Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, tasks related to international affairs within the Legislature are currently handled by the Secretariat.

However, the Secretariat has become unable to fulfill the increasing needs of the Legislature to promote parliamentary diplomacy and help "raise Taiwan's international standing" amid "geopolitical changes," the report said.

The report added that countries such as Japan, South Korea, the Czech Republic, France, and Germany had similar establishments within their parliaments to handle international affairs.

Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉), secretary general of the Legislature, told the judiciary committee at a hearing on Monday that the international affairs division would form a strategy to better help the Legislature operate in line with international circumstances and the national interest of the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name.

All four parties with seats in the Legislature have sponsored competing bills with regard to establishing an international affairs department, namely the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, the main opposition Kuomintang, the Taiwan People's Party, and the New Power Party.

At Monday's hearing, lawmakers across parties agreed upon a final version that has taken into consideration all the variations among the competing bills.

That final version was put through on the legislative floor on Friday without any objections.

(By Wang Yang-yu and Teng Pei-ju)

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