Disappointed by version of the Referendum Law (公民投票法) passed by the legislature yesterday, the Cabinet said shortly before midnight last night that it would try to make up for the deficiencies in the law and that it was still mulling whether it should try to overturn the legislation.
"Although we know it would be difficult to overturn the law -- because the pan-green alliance is in the minority -- we must do whatever we can to harness public support to pressure the legislature to redress this faulty referendum law," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chai-lung (
"The version of the law that was passed today has already created so many controversies. Its articles are contradictory and it also violates the spirit of the Constitution," he said. "Today's legislative processes -- dominated by the pan-blue alliance -- were an injustice and will disgrace Taiwan in the eyes of the world."
Yesterday morning, Premier Yu Shyi-kun told reporters that the Cabinet would be left with no choice but to overturn the legislation if it finds the law hard to implement.
"History will judge the wisdom of opposition lawmakers if they dare to hinder the nation's democratization," he said.
The opposition-dominated legislature passed only two clauses proposed by the Cabinet, with the rest of the approved bill being from their own version of the legislation.
Yu also vowed to honor President Chen Shui-bian's (
The Constitution mandates that if the government wants to overturn a law or resolution passed by the legislature that it deems difficult to implement, the Cabinet must send a request to the president within 10 days of receiving the written text of the law from the legislature.
If the president agrees with the Cabinet, he must then send the request to the legislature. Lawmakers are required to reach a final decision within 15 days of receiving the request. If lawmakers fail to reach a final decision before the deadline, the passed law or resolution automatically becomes invalid.
If more than half of the legislature vetoes the Cabinet's request, the Cabinet must accept the law or resolution, which would then go into effect three days after it is promulgated by the president.
If lawmakers are upset by the Cabinet's attempt to reject a law, they can then call for a no confidence vote against the premier. However, a petition to call such a vote must be endorsed by one-third of lawmakers. A no-confidence vote must be called within 72 hours of the petition being filed and the vote should be cast with signed ballots.
If more than one-half of the lawmakers vote in favor of the no-confidence motion, the premier must resign within 10 days and request the president to dismiss the legislature. If the no-confidence motion fails, lawmakers cannot petition for another no-confidence vote against the same premier within one year.
Commenting on China's claims that it would "react dramatically" if the legislature passed a referendum law without restrictions, Yu said that China was simply afraid of Taiwan's democratization.
"Democratization is a global trend and no one can stop or deny it," Yu said. "Instead of verbally intimidating us and meddling in our domestic affairs, China should have pondered why it's still not a democratic country and how to become one in the near future."
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS