President Lai calls for opposition talks as political discord grows

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Tuesday proposed holding talks with opposition party leaders amid protracted tensions and disputes between his administration and the opposition-led Legislature.

In a speech marking the anniversary of his taking office exactly one year ago, Lai called for a "national security briefing" with Eric Chu (朱立倫), chairman of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), Chu's counterpart from the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP).

Lai, who concurrently chairs the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said he hoped both sides would set aside their political differences, candidly exchange views on matters of national interest and security, and jointly address various challenges facing Taiwan.

The president did not elaborate on what those challenges might be, but his first year in office has been plagued by political gridlock between the DPP government and the Legislature, where the KMT and TPP together hold a majority.

In response, Chu, despite noting that Lai's overtures had taken a full year to arrive, signaled his willingness to talk with the DPP government in a social media post later that day, citing public expectations for the ruling and opposition parties to work toward resolving their disputes.

In addition, the KMT chair called for a mechanism to be set up that would enable both sides to have substantive discussions about challenges faced by Taiwan, rather than a one-off meeting.

Similarly, the TPP said in a separate statement that talks between ruling and opposition party leaders should take place without any preconditions, allowing both camps to engage in open and meaningful discussion.

The TPP statement did not mention whether Huang would be willing to participate in such talks.

Although President Lai and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) have each met with Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT and other senior opposition figures over the past year in what they described as efforts to tackle domestic political challenges, these talks have failed to yield any significant breakthroughs.

The DPP has brought multiple pieces of legislation passed by KMT and TPP lawmakers, including the 2025 central government budget bill, to the Constitutional Court in a bid to have the laws rejected.

The government has argued that much of the legislation would undermine Taiwan's national security and development, or allow legislative powers to usurp those of other branches of government.

In the meantime, civil society groups, with the support of many DPP politicians and rank-and-file members, have mounted campaigns seeking to oust dozens of KMT lawmakers eligible for recall provisions.

On Tuesday, Lai, who had made little public comment on the recalls until very recently, contended that the campaigns were not driven by enmity but rather the active political participation of younger generations seeking to "protect the nation [and] further entrench democracy."

While the KMT has sought to fight back by launching similar recall petitions targeting DPP lawmakers, the party has been far less successful in this endeavor and instead has become entangled in a series of legal investigations.

Several of local KMT chapters have been raided, with some officials detained over alleged forgery and illegal use of personal data in their campaigns.