In updates to President Lai Ching-te (賴清德)’s security briefing scheduled for Wednesday, as of Tuesday evening the TPP Chair has declined to attend citing poor communication among other factors. KMT Secretary-General Justin Huang (黃健庭) announced later in the evening that KMT’s chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫） would also not be attending, but stated that the TPP’s announcement held no bearing on the decision.
Last week, the Presidential Office announced that it would hold a security briefing, adding on Monday that it would convene the heads of defense, diplomacy, cross-strait, and national security, also inviting the heads of opposition parties to attend. The KMT and TPP both originally responded that they wished for the “briefing” to be more of a dialogue between the president and opposition party leaders, also expressing their desire for the meeting to be open-door. However, as of Tuesday evening the Presidential Office maintains that the meeting will remain close-door due to the sensitive information being reviewed.
In a press conference Tuesday evening, the TPP confirmed that TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) would not attend, with a spokesperson citing a lack of communication between the Presidential Office, and concerns about the procedural legality of the briefing.
Asked whether the TPP Party’s statement would affect KMT Chair Eric Chu’s decision to attend, Justin Huang said that it had no bearing on the KMT’s decision. He cited that the KMT still had concerns that the current agenda didn’t have enough time for discussion on core non-confidential issues, and that the format didn’t seem to meet the opposition’s request for an open-discussion format.
Huang clarified that issues of concern were not limited to the threat of China, but that many Taiwanese are also concerned about economy and trade, technology, energy, social security and fraud among others. He cited a “big gap” between what the party had asked for and what the current briefing provided for. While Huang said the party was encouraged by the Presidential Office’s invitation to discuss matters of security, they were still in discussions over the details and format.
Later Tuesday evening, the KMT held their own press conference announcing that, as their requests were not met, they would also not be attending the security briefing. However, Huang also added that just because the negotiations for Wednesday’s briefing fell through, did not mean that no further negotiations were happening. He said the party looked forward to future meetings with open-door dialogues between opposition party and ruling party leaders.