President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should clarify his duties as president, sack his premier and abandon economic policies that ignore China’s military threat, a group of academics said yesterday.
The Taipei Society, a civic group perceived as pro-independence, challenged the president over his performance on the economy, national sovereignty and human rights since taking office in May.
The group also presented several suggestions to the Ma administration.
Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華), a senior member of the group and a sociology professor at National Chengchi University, expressed concern that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was leading the nation back to a “party-state” government.
The KMT was straying from the principles of democracy since winning both the presidential and legislative elections earlier this year, Ku said.
Ku urged Ma and the KMT to establish a mechanism to guarantee responsible politics with the public’s interests in mind.
“Judging from the legislature’s performance in recent months, the KMT failed to take advantage of its majority in the legislature to pass laws that would benefit the public,” Ku told a press conference in Taipei yesterday.
In addition to stalling sunshine laws, the KMT allowed the four agreements on cross-strait sea transport, flights and postal services as well as food safety signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) to escape a legislative vote, he said.
The agreements took effect by default after the deadline for a legislative review passed.
“The KMT is abandoning its duties and obligations in the legislature, and this is a violation of constitutional politics ... If the Ma administration and the KMT continues to abuse power, the party may suffer in the upcoming elections,” he said.
Academia Sinica research fellow Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源) said that Ma had failed to clarify his duties as president, had interfered with the Cabinet’s decision-making process and had failed to establish a full advisory mechanism to hear differing opinions on important issues.
Another executive member of the group, Lu Shih-hsiang (盧世祥) said Ma’s policies would make the nation’s economy too dependent on China, which flatly ignored the military threat posed by Taiwan’s rival across the Strait.
The group also said Ma had failed to stand up for freedom of assembly during the protests against ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in October.
In addition, his rejection of a proposed visit by the Dalai Lama had hurt the nation’s human rights image, they said.
The president should replace Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), the group said, and allow his replacement to form a new Cabinet, abandon pro-China policies and ensure that the government does not interfere in the media.
It also called for a meeting between Ma and Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to push for social and political reconciliation.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS