Taipei: The Legislative Yuan party caucuses on Wednesday selected 16 conveners for eight standing committees, consisting of eight lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), seven from the Kuomintang (KMT), and one from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).

According to Focus Taiwan, the Legislature has eight standing committees: Internal Administration; Foreign Affairs and National Defense; Economics; Finance; Education and Culture; Transportation; Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes; and Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene. Each committee is led by two conveners who have the authority to set meeting agendas and convene both regular and closed-door meetings. The role is significant as the convener sets legislative priorities amidst a large number of bills awaiting review each year.

Historically, when either the DPP or KMT held the legislative majority, committee conveners were typically divided evenly between the two parties. Among the committees, the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee has gained particular attention due to its responsibility of reviewing three versions of a special defense budget plan, including arms procurement from the United States, proposed by the Cabinet, the KMT, and the TPP. KMT lawmaker Ma Wen-chun and DPP lawmaker Chen Kuan-ting have been appointed as conveners of this committee, which consists of seven KMT lawmakers, including Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu, seven DPP lawmakers, and one TPP lawmaker, indicating that the TPP might hold the deciding vote.

In other committees, DPP lawmaker Chuang Jui-hsiung and KMT lawmaker Weng Hsiao-ling were picked as conveners of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. DPP lawmaker Lee Po-yi and KMT lawmaker Liao Hsien-hsiang will lead the Internal Administration Committee, while DPP lawmaker Lin Chun-hsien and KMT lawmaker Huang Chien-hao will head the Transportation Committee.

Additionally, DPP lawmaker Wu Li-hua and KMT legislator Lo Ting-wei will co-convene the Education and Culture Committee. The Finance Committee will be led by DPP lawmaker Wu Ping-jui and KMT lawmaker Lee Yen-hsiu. The Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee will be co-chaired by DPP lawmaker Lin Yueh-chin and KMT lawmaker Lu Hsien-yi. For the Economics Committee, DPP lawmaker Chiu Chih-wei and TPP lawmaker Hung Yu-shiang have been chosen as the conveners.