In a concerted effort rarely seen in Taiwan politics, the legislative caucuses of the three major parties yesterday reached a consensus to help push forward post-quake restoration work by passing the emergency decree announced by President Lee Teng-hui (
The legislature also decided to cancel an initial agreement to adjourn legislative sessions for two weeks.
In a joint statement made by legislative caucuses of the KMT, DPP, and the New Party, the legislature will review and vote today on the emergency decree announced for the enhancement of rescue and restoration work in the wake of last week's quake.
Representatives from the three parties' caucuses said they would not adjourn legislative sessions for the two weeks between Sept. 29 and Oct. 14 to make sure the government was responsible in its restoration efforts.
The decision was made after hours of closed-door negotiations between the three legislative caucuses, who demonstrated a rare unified attitude toward the single issue.
Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of the KMT pointed out several reasons why the legislature needed to stay in session.
"We need to be in session to monitor the government's enforcement of restoration tasks. And we can also have time to reflect on the needs of the people affected by the quake," Wang said.
Although the three parties agreed on passing the emergency decree in today's session, the actual passage of the decree is not expected to be automatic, as it is subject to a review and secret vote by all the legislators, including independent ones.
There are other pressing concerns in addition to the restoration projects. KMT legislative caucus leader Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said his party now has an urgent need to push forward the court martial law bill, which he said must be passed before Oct. 1; otherwise, there will be no law to handle criminal offenses by personnel of the armed forces. Both the DPP and the New Party have other concerns as well. By combining efforts to pass bills relevant to the restoration work they will be better able to accomplish their various tasks.
DPP legislative caucus leader Chen Chi-mai (
"We plan to do so mainly because the emergency decree's effective period [six months] is not long enough for the rebuilding efforts to be completed and also because the decree does not have clear definitions for restoration work in various areas," Chen said.
"We hope our special law will provide a clear legal basis for all sorts of post-quake restoration tasks, including relocation of homeless people, tax reduction or exemption for them, distribution of resources, institution of social welfare programs, and assignment of powers and responsibilities of governments at all levels involved in the tasks," he said.
"We expect the restoration work to last for around four years. So we have three to four years in mind as we plan for the effective period of the law," he said.
The New Party also plans to propose a similar bill, but it is more interested in gaining support from the other two parties for the establishment of a special committee in the legislature to supervise the enforcement of the emergency decree.
"In principle, we support the DPP's plan for a special law to handle the restoration work. But we are more eager to see the formation of the supervising committee," New Party lawmaker Elmer Feng (
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
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