The new legislative plenary session opened yesterday, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), reduced to a minority party after its election rout, blocking draft bills on “ill-gotten party assets” proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party.
The session commenced with Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) leading the legislature and Executive Yuan officials in observing a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in Tainan in the earthquake that struck on Feb. 6.
More than 100 draft acts sailed through their first readings and were referred to legislative committees for review and deliberation during the morning meeting, including draft bills on governing political parties; amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) and the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法); setting up reciprocal offices with China; and the much-discussed legislation on the presidential transition of power.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
What did not get through were four bills aiming to deal with ill-gotten party assets proposed by DPP lawmakers, which the KMT caucus opposed and were sent back to the Procedure Committee.
KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) said the regulation of political parties’ assets could be included in the proposed political party act, adding that the KMT opposed the DPP’s bills because they are “apparently targeting [the KMT].”
DPP Legislator Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) blasted the KMT’s move on Facebook, saying the KMT “still does not understand why it has been spurned by the public even after its 2014 and 2016 electoral routs.”
Photo: CNA
“The political party act is to ensure a fair playing field for all political parties, and the premise for that fairness depends on the act governing ill-gotten party assets stripping away the competitive advantage that the KMT has held for a long time,” Su Chih-fen said.
The DPP, which now holds a majority in the legislature, can choose to counteract the KMT’s move if it is “determined to propose the bill,” Social Democratic Party spokesperson Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) said, adding that according to legislative regulations, a caucus can only block the referral of a bill to a committee when “there are too few lawmakers present to conduct a vote.”
“In other words, if the DPP appoints a sufficient number of lawmakers to attend the first-reading meeting ... the bills could be successfully referred to the committee for review,” Miao added.
Meanwhile, Lin said prior to the general assembly meeting that the KMT caucus does not and would not oppose legislation on the transition of power, but the legislation must not be unconstitutional.
The draft act will not be reviewed until at least the end of next month or the beginning of April after a question-and-answer session, “so the third reading will probably be completed only after the [May 20] presidential transition,” he said.
“Since the proposed bill will not be in effect for this transition, we should take time to review the bill. The most important thing is not to ensure that it does not go against the Constitution, as the version proposed by [the DPP] does in some parts,” Lin added.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said the DPP’s version of the legislation, which would restrict the incumbent president’s appointment and decisionmaking powers, would generate controversies, and that since a president is elected to a full four-year term, resigning before their time is up or reducing their effective ruling time is unlawful.
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) disagreed, asking why “the KMT, when it proposed its version of the presidential transition bill in 2008, which was little different from the one we have now, did it not find it unconstitutional?”
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
RSS