Once again, violence marred the Legislative Yuan yesterday, as legislators exchanged shoves and blows over the statute governing the NT$610.8 billion special arms budget in the Procedure Committee.
The prospect for the statute to be approved before the legislative elections now looks grim, since the legislature is likely to go into recess early this session, possible at the beginning of November, so candidates have time to run their campaigns.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Still, even if the statute makes it through the Procedure Committee next week, there will only be two or three weeks remaining for the statute to be reviewed.
To counterbalance the Cabinet's version, which allows the government to prepare a special budget for the deal, the People First Party (PFP) offered its own version, which stipulates that the deal must be included within the regular annual budget.
Prior to the commencement of the Procedure Committee yesterday, Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
According to an official present at the meeting, Lee said the government might not be able to include the arms deal in the annual budget, since the amount would eat up the budget for other programs. Lee said the PFP's version was unfeasible. But Lee and Wang's meeting did not result in any concrete plan for how to approach the issue.
To push through the statute, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) yesterday carried some posters to the Procedure Committee to highlight that the arms deal had been agreed to during the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) adminstration.
Lee also highlighted PFP Legislator Nelson Ku's (
"We cannot have a discussion derived from professionalism and rationality, when we see KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (
Lee and his fellow DPP Legislator Chen Tsung-yi (
Liu crossed the room and tried to tackle both men, but other legislators separated the trio. Lee and Liu then exchanged heated words, but no further physical conflicts ensued.
In related news, both the PFP and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucuses proposed in the Procedure Committee yesterday that the legislature invite President Chen Shui-bian (
The PFP's proposal also stipulated that the president should take and answer questions from lawmakers after the address.
But both proposals failed to make it through the committee.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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