Taiwan: Brawl in parliament postpones debate and vote on legislative reform

A brawl caused chaos in the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's parliament, this Friday, in the midst of debate over the reform of the legislative body's rules just a few days before the beginning of president-elect Lai Ching-te's term is set to begin.

Taiwan's legislative branch is a unicameral assembly, which was the scene of a massive fight between representatives from the two main parties.

According to reports, during the brawl, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party brawl jumped onto the presidential table and grab the bill's documents. The objective was to escape with them to prevent the plenary session from being held this Friday .

In the center of this open brawl, which was recorded and seen around the world, there is a reform of the code for the parliament, which is opposed by the party in government, which holds a minority in the Legislative Yuan, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In favor of reform is the conservative and pro-China party, Kuomintang (KMT).

The reform, which is backed by KMT, would give the legislative body more powers to supervise the Taiwanese executive branch. For the DPP, this move by the Kuomintang aims to pull the rug out from under the feet of the executive, which has been in the hands of the DPP since 2016.

With Lai Ching-te's presidential victory this year, the Taiwanese government will be in the hands of the DPP for at least another four years, which reverses historical trend in favor of KMT, who formed the first governments on the island as a legacy of Chiang Kai-shek, a military leader who ruled in Taiwan for more than 25 years after the schism with mainland China. Kuomintang is a political party greatly influenced by Chinese intelligence services.