By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislators Lai Cheng-chang (賴振昌) and Chou Ni-an (周倪安) were sworn in at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, with both promising to adhere to the party’s opposition to the cross-strait service trade agreement.
Lai and Chou took the seats of Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) and Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲), who finished their two-year terms.
They and Legislator Yeh Chin-ling (葉津鈴) are the only TSU members in the 113-seat legislature.
Yeh, a former Greater Kaohsiung city councilor, replaced Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) in August last year after the party revoked Lin’s membership because of ideological differences with the party, thereby vacating her seat.
The TSU won 8.9 percent of the votes in the 2012 legislative elections, giving it three at-large seats, and decided to allow two candidates to share one seat, with each serving for two years.
The caucus will maintain its stance against the service pact and make sure it is examined clause-by-clause, Lai and Chou told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony presided over by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Council of Grand Justices member Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發).
Lai, who resigned as president of the National Taipei College of Business to take up his seat, said he would focus on national identity, sovereignty and social justice during his term.
Opposing the service trade agreement, backing the establishment of malls nationwide to sell Taiwanse products and educational issues would be high on her agenda, Chou said.
Chou ran in the 2007 legislative election and has served as deputy director of the TSU’s organization department.
TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) said Hsu and Huang would become heads of the TSU Policy Research Committee and the Judiciary Reform Committee respectively and both could run in the year-end seven-in-one elections.