KMT, TPP reject President Lai's national security briefing invitation

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) The leaders of Taiwan's two main opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP), on Tuesday separately indicated that they would not attend a national security briefing hosted by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) scheduled for Wednesday.

The purpose of the meeting, according to a Presidential Office spokesperson on Monday, would be to help opposition leaders "understand the major threats facing the nation" and feature reports by the Ministry of National Defense (MND), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and National Security Bureau (NSB).

"Dialogue between ruling and opposition parties needs to solve the people's problems, and issues that people care about such as industry and energy must be included in the dialogue," said KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) at a press conference on Tuesday.

Also speaking at the KMT media event, KMT Secretary-General Justin Huang (黃健庭) said the party has already declined the invitation "since the demands raised by the KMT were not accepted by the government."

Earlier in the day, Justin Huang had said the KMT "cannot accept the whole process being secret" and indicated that the party wished to make public speeches immediately before the briefings started and also after the president spoke.

The KMT press conference followed an online statement issued by the TPP earlier in the day that said its leader, Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), would not attend the "Lai Ching-te government's hasty and politically calculated arrangements."

In the statement published on the party's website, the TPP said it was puzzling that the briefing would be restricted to discussing national security topics.

"There is a large gap between President Lai Ching-te's promise to invite opposition leaders to 'sincerely and frankly exchange views and jointly discuss national affairs' and the expectations of the public," it said.

"It is not appropriate to arbitrarily create extra-legal procedures through the will of one person," the TPP said.

Later in the day, TPP Chairman Huang said that there "wasn't any communication" between himself and KMT Chairman Chu on the issue of whether to attend the meeting.

In response to the opposition parties' statements that they would not attend the national security meeting scheduled for the following morning, Presidential Office Spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that the government remains open to communication.

The planned reports by the MND, MOFA, MAC and NSB were classified top secret under Taiwan's National Security Act, Kuo said, and the format of a closed-door national security meeting is in line with international standards, citing the U.K., Germany, France, Canada and Australia.

The presidential spokesperson also expressed appreciation to KMT General-Secretary Justin Huang, whom she said engaged in repeated and constructive communication with the Presidential Office.

She noted that the KMT communicated frequently by phone on the issue of the meeting, while the TPP "every time used press conferences" to communicate.

"The Presidential Office will continue to show goodwill," Kuo said.