Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's plans for a national security briefing with opposition leaders have fallen through, after the chairs of both the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party turned down the invitation, citing disagreements over the briefing's format and agenda.
00:00President Lighting Does plans for a crucial national security briefing have fallen through.
00:06It was a meeting that had been several weeks in the making, but opposition party leaders refused to join.
00:12Our reporter Leslie Liao joins us now with more on this.
00:15Leslie, what was this briefing meant to be about, and why didn't it happen?
00:49And opposition Guomindang chair Eric Zhu and smaller Taiwan People's Party chair Huang Guocang both said that they would not attend.
00:58Apparently, there were some disagreements over the format of the meeting and items on the agenda as well.
01:05Originally, this meeting was supposed to break the ice between Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties, which are feuding intensely right now.
01:13President Lai Ching De first proposed this briefing during a speech on his one-year anniversary in office.
01:20Now, the presidential office has expressed regret at the opposition leaders' decision, but they say that the door for communications continues to be wide open.
01:29So, Leslie, why did the opposition turn down the invitation?
01:34So, one of the reasons that TPP chair Huang Guocang gave was that he didn't want this briefing to be just about national security.
01:47And there were also disagreements about whether the meeting should be open door or closed door like the presidential office wanted.
01:54Another big issue looming over this national security briefing, though, is Taiwan's ongoing mass lawmaker recall campaigns.
02:02Civic groups have launched recall campaigns against dozens of KMT lawmakers.
02:08And those campaigns are expected to go to a public vote in a few weeks.
02:12But KMT chair Eric Zhu specifically said that he wants these recall campaigns called off if there's going to be substantive cross-party talks.
02:36The DPP held its own press conference on Wednesday morning, saying that the opposition threatens national security by blocking legislation meant to bolster Taiwan's defenses.
02:49And a DPP lawmaker actually responded to opposition leaders' unwillingness to attend the briefing in a colorful manner.
02:57Lai,总统,用你来做国安简报,邀请在野,在在野董,大家听一个国安简报.
03:06还请我们来直播,我告诉你,如果要直播,你们都要来啦。
03:10要直播,就要公开国安简报报报道,全台湾,包括阿共和習近平都看得到。
03:16Despite those strong words, though, both the KMT and the presidential office have expressed willingness to continue to communicate.
03:27So even though this meeting didn't go through on Wednesday morning, there's still hope that the frigid relations between opposition and ruling parties can thaw.
03:37Thanks, Leslie. That was Leslie Liao live from our Taipei newsroom.
