New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday reiterated a proposal that would put a possible constitutional amendment on improving government accountability to a referendum in 2016, in tandem with a national election.
Chu, the sole candidate for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) chairmanship election next month, said that many people are dissatisfied with a system of governmental power that they say lacks accountability, and advocated having more young adults and civic groups participate in the political process.
As for which political system should be adopted: “Of course, a parliamentary system is the one favored by most people at present,” Chu said, adding that if the amendment were approved in a referendum, it could take effect during the presidential election cycle in 2020.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
On the KMT’s controversial assets, Chu reiterated that the party must return any ill-gotten assets to the nation, but that assets obtained through normal, legal channels should be used to nurture talent.
The real issue is to make the party’s finances and assets transparent, and let all stakeholders monitor them together, he said.
In response to reporters’ questions about a potential meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Chu said: “I will talk about this only after I have been elected party chairman,” adding that he had not given any thought to the idea before now.
Chu registered to run for party chairman at the KMT headquarters in Taipei yesterday afternoon. He brought more than 106,000 signatures from KMT members backing his bid.
The KMT is scheduled to hold a vote on Jan. 17 to elect a new chairman, following President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) resignation from the post on Dec. 3 in the wake of the party’s raft of defeats in the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) characterized Chu’s remarks on questionable KMT assets as a “beautiful — but empty — promise,” urging Chu to support legislation on the KMT’s illegitimate party assets if he is sincere.
Tsai said that a large part of the KMT’s assets should be returned to the nation and the government as an important step in transitional justice.
Tsai added that the KMT should try to solve the assets issue to allow fair interparty competition in the nation, saying that Chu should take concrete action on the issue.
Otherwise, he would be “just another Ma,” who vowed more than 100 times to take care of the party assets issue, Tsai said.
“If the issue remains unsolved, there would always be unfair competition between political parties and the KMT would always be a target of public criticism,” Tsai said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Chen-chan (賴振昌) agreed, calling Chu’s promise merely campaign propaganda, as he never showed any concern for the issue — even during his tenure as one of the KMT’s vice chairmen.
Lai also disagreed with Chu’s proposal to “donate” the party assets in question to the nation or charity, “because the assets were national properties and should be ‘returned’ to the state, instead.”
Conversely, KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said he would not support legislation regarding “illegitimate party assets,” because the title of the legislative proposal is targeting the KMT.
“Who decides what is legitimate and what is not?” Lu asked. “However, I would support drafting a political party act (政黨法) that applies to all political parties.”
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS