The TSU legislative caucus slammed the pan-blue alliance yesterday for stonewalling the passage of a "national loyalty check" bill.
Worse still, the TSU caucus said the KMT and PFP pushed for amending the Civil Servant Employment Law (
The TSU caucus claimed that the pan-blue alliance's moves have created holes in the nation's security system and left room for agents from China to infiltrate Taiwan.
The TSU caucus was responding to its KMT and PFP counterparts' recent criticism of National Security Council Secretary-General Kang Ning-hsiang (
The alliance said Kang's employment of Chang Pei-chen (
Chang, who had devoted herself to research on the Chinese economy for 20 years at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research before she joined the council on April 1, resigned from her council post last Saturday.
Her resignation came after a local newspaper reported that her husband had used her name to set up a company in Hong Kong which cooperated with the business arm of China's Ministry of Railways in operating land development deals in Shanghai.
TSU legislative whip Chien Lin Huei-jyun (
Chien Lin said the pan-blue alliance is to blame for the loose security checks conducted on civil servants.
She pointed out that the TSU came up with a host of draft bills in May last year with a view to tightening the protection of military intelligence and other national secrets.
However, Chien Lin said, the KMT and the PFP had boycotted screening of these bills. She said the two parties had stonewalled the transfer of the national loyalty bill to the legislature's Judiciary Committee for deliberation 17 times.
Without the enactment of this bill, Chien Lin said, government agencies cannot conduct stringent loyalty checks on would-be civil servants.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had