Upset with the decision by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus to delay deliberation on a bill he favored, Legislator Chu Hsing-yu (朱星羽) yesterday announced his withdrawal from the party.
"I proclaim my withdrawal from the DPP now," Chu said yesterday after Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
PHOTO: LO PEI-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Chu, the main advocate for the proposed amendments, declared that "this is the saddest day of my 23-year political life. I need to apologize to President Chen Shui-bian (
"But the decision was based upon my conscience," he said.
The proposed revisions had won endorsement from 163 ruling and opposition lawmakers, Chu said. He said the DPP caucus wanted to block it in order to win votes from the nation's 15,000 tax inspectors.
Chu believes the annual reward system for tax inspectors who have caught tax evaders needs to be revised because the inspectors's excessive checks have interfered with people's lives.
But officials from the Ministry of Finance say the reward system has been institutionalized as part of tax officials' stipends. They said deliberation would be needed to any proposed alterations to the system.
Leaders of the DPP caucus upheld the ministry's view and demanded the revisions be delayed.
Chu's announcement was praised by pan-blue lawmakers, but DPP legislative leaders vowed to hold further discussions with Chu.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but