TAIWAN'S NEW LEGISLATIVE YUAN OPENS SESSION

C O N F I D E N T I A L TAIPEI 000163 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/1/2023 TAGS: PGOV TW SUBJECT: TAIWAN'S NEW LEGISLATIVE YUAN OPENS SESSION REF: TAIPEI 0061 Classified By: AIT Director Stephen M. Young, Reason 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (SBU) Taiwan's 7th Legislative Yuan (LY) opened its session on February 1 with the swearing in of 112 legislators elected to the body in the January 12 legislative elections. The restructured legislature now consists of 113 seats, pared down from the 225 seats of previous sessions. One KMT legislator-elect, currently mayor of a Taipei County city, postponed his swearing in to March, in order to serve enough time to appoint his mayoral successor and avoid holding a by-election. ¶2. (SBU) Incumbent LY Speaker Wang Jin-pyng was easily re-elected to the speakership in voting that proceeded along party lines. The 80 present KMT legislators, along with 5 other members from the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, People First Party, and an independent, gave Wang a total of 85 votes, compared to the DPP's 27 votes for DPP legislator Trong Chai. Incumbent KMT lawmaker Tseng Yung-chuan was elected Deputy Speaker with 84 votes. ¶3. (C) In a conciliatory gesture to the DPP, and as a means to ease the fears of Taiwanese voters concerned with the KMT reasserting its traditional hegemony on political power in Taiwan, the KMT has stated that it is willing to offer four of the eight legislative committee chairs to the DPP. No decision has yet been made on which committees this would entail. The eight committees are as follows: Interior Affairs; Foreign Affairs and National Defense; Economics; Finance; Education and Culture; Transportation; Judiciary, Organic Law and Statues; Sanitation, Environment and Labor Affairs. ¶4. (C) According to DPP Deputy Director for Policy Planning Chao Chia-wen, the new legislature is unlikely to implement any major legislation before the upcoming presidential election on March 22. New members will first be engaged in interpellations and then need a few weeks to review any pending legislation. Chao added that the KMT-led body will also act slowly to avoid missteps which could exacerbate fears among undecided voters concerned the KMT will become too powerful should Ma win the presidency. YOUNG