Lai signals willingness to address legislature after 5-branch tea party

Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said Monday after meeting five top officials at a Presidential Office tea gathering that he is willing to deliver a national affairs report at the Legislative Yuan "in accordance with constitutional procedures."

The gathering, held on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, marked the first time in Taiwan's history that the heads of the five branches attended such a meeting at the president's invitation.

Under Taiwan's constitutional system, the five branches are the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan and Control Yuan, led respectively by Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Hsieh Ming-yang (謝銘洋), Chou Hung-hsien (周弘憲) and Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞).

Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said Lai thanked Legislative Speaker Han in person for inviting him to address lawmakers and "again expressed" that he would "gladly" go to the Legislative Yuan to give a national affairs report according to constitutional procedures.

Kuo said the tea gathering lasted an hour and a half and that participants discussed issues of concern, including the general budget, U.S. tariffs, the Fiscal Equalization Act and arms procurement legislation.

Han told reporters after the meeting that, as the head of the Legislative Yuan, he had invited Lai to personally explain to lawmakers "the current situation of the Republic of China (ROC), issues everyone is concerned about, and issues the president hopes the legislature can resolve in the next session."

Han said the session would adopt a question-and-answer format, and said the Legislative Yuan would "certainly attach special importance" to it.

Although no formal agenda was set for the tea gathering, Lai said that the heads of the five branches each have a responsibility to the country.

Participants should, he added, aim to "transform misunderstanding into understanding, transform division into unity, transform personal small gains into national greater gains, and transform weapons into jade and silk" -- an idiomatic expression emphasizing the importance of peaceful relations.

Lai acknowledged that this would be "very difficult" and "not achievable in one step," but added that "everyone must always take the first step for the country, society and the people."

Han described the meeting as having "set a model," saying that even amid "high-intensity confrontation and conflict" in politics, there can still be "a warm human side."

Han added that many bills and budget proposals in the Legislative Yuan, particularly the Central Government General Budget Proposal and the special arms procurement budget bill, are of concern to Lai, Cho and other branch heads.

In a Facebook post later in the day, Cho said the gathering marked "a solid first step" for national development at the start of the new year and stressed that "unity is not a slogan, but action involving continuous communication and mutual achievement."