Dissatisfied with the bill to smuggle American beef, the opposition party threatened to boycott it for a long time

Opposition legislators were dissatisfied with the Kuomintang's forced smuggling of American beef bills, which were sent to the government and opposition for consultation yesterday without committee review. Today, on the 30th, they took turns occupying the podium at the Legislative Yuan, causing all scheduled agendas to be suspended. The Democratic Progressive Party caucus even threatened that if the Executive Yuan does not send a version of the American beef issue to the Legislative Yuan for joint review, it will close the door to consultations and boycott it for a long time.

The Legislative Yuan's Health and Environment Committee yesterday conducted a preliminary review of the draft amendment to some articles of the Food Sanitation Management Act. There were only 17 versions proposed by party groups or legislators. The opposition party was dissatisfied with the Executive Yuan for not sending the version to the Legislative Yuan, refused to review it, occupied the podium and demanded the adjournment of the meeting. Kuomintang convener Tsai Chin-lung believed that the meeting was boycotted, so he announced in the evening that the bill would be submitted to the government and opposition for consultation. This move triggered fierce resistance from the opposition party.

Early this morning, the Democratic Progressive Party, the People First Party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and other opposition parties occupied the podium and the speaking platform holding banners that read "Bandit government attacks the people" and "Resolutions that do not follow procedures are invalid", causing the national affairs forum, report matters and general policy questioning that were originally scheduled to be held at the cabinet meeting to be suspended.

The Democratic Progressive Party caucus held a press conference and pointed out that the ruling Kuomintang used the method of smuggling to clear the battlefield for the issue of opening up the import of American beef containing ractopamine. Its wishful thinking was that the bill would be sent out of the committee yesterday, and after a one-month freezing period, it would be voted on with a majority of seats in early May and passed before the presidential inauguration on May 20.

The Democratic Progressive Party caucus criticized that if the Kuomintang continues to act so recklessly, the opposition parties will boycott its policies for a long time and jointly list Legislative Yuan Speaker Chen Chong as an unwelcome person in the Legislative Yuan, so that Chen Chong will never be able to take the stage for questioning.

In response to the government's plan to conditionally open up imports of American beef containing ractopamine, civil groups have announced that they will launch the "401 March for Food Safety" on April 1. The entire event will be a candlelight silence to express silent protest.