The alleged illegality of the National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general sitting in on meetings of the National Police Agency (NPA) and Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau suggests that the nation is in need of a new Republic of China constitution, civic organizations said yesterday.
NSC Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) came under fire from legislators across party lines when he visited the police agency on Wednesday and the Investigation Bureau on Friday.
While lawmakers said that King was overreaching his authority, the council in a statement issued on Sunday evening dismissed allegations that he had violated the Constitution, adding that King would continue making the visits.
The 15 civic groups, which took part in the student-led Sunflower movement occupying the Legislative Yuan in Taipei from March 18 to April 10 in protest against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement, held a press conference in Taipei yesterday for the “Declaration of the New Constitution Movement.”
The declaration said the Sunflower movement highlighted many of the problems in the nation’s constitutional government system, adding that it showed how the government’s sovereign status was called into question and the principle of separation of powers were teetering on the brink of dysfunction.
Taiwan needs to “unfreeze” its Constitution and lower the threshold for constitutional amendments as one of the goals of constitutional government reforms, the declaration said.
The nation needs a new constitution, one in which the common will of Taiwanese is reflected to better implement human rights, realize social democracy, recognize the autonomy of Aborigines, realize “generational justice” by lowering the age requirement for voting and participation in politics and establish a healthy political party system, the groups said.
Despite its amendments, the Constitution cannot truly separate the democratic system from the influence of old institutionalized ways, and only through drafting a new constitution can Taiwanese cement the values of human rights and democracy and establish the nation as a healthy state in East Asia, the declaration said.
Democratic Front Against Cross-Strait Trade in Service Agreement (反黑箱服貿民主陣線) convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the Constitution has gone as far as it can, and the nation truly needs the movement.
Meanwhile, the groups called on political parties to face the constitutional crisis threatening the nation and asked for their support in the reforms.
“The government should not avoid our calls to hold a civil reformation of the constitutional system by calling for a national meeting on the economy, nor should it disregard the will and determination of society to push through political reforms,” the groups said.
The groups called on the public to support their efforts.
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
BOLSTERING DEFENSE: The explosive is 40 percent more powerful than those in use and could be deployed for Hsiung Feng II and III missiles, a government source said The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has developed a polycyclic nitroamine explosive, commonly known as CL-20, which is the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known, a government source said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The institute has significantly improved explosive and rocket propellant research and development in recent years, the source said. A new factory was established in June 2022 with NT$540 million (US$16.6 million) in equipment installed, the source said. A central complex that would house 50-gallon (189 liters) and 300-gallon (1,136 liters) explosive mixer machines, as well as a storage device, was constructed in the factory, the institute said. The explosive is