Amid bickering, delegates of the newly-elected National Assembly yesterday agreed to meet on Monday to start the process of ratifying a constitutional amendment package passed by the legislature last August.
Yesterday's cross-party meeting also settled on the composition of the 11-member steering committee and elected an acting secretary-general, who will be replaced when a formal secretary-general is selected by the full committee.
Although the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) originally nominated Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Minister Yeh Chun-jung (
The committee vote was 6 to 5 in favor of Chien Lin over People First Party (PFP) candidate Edward Chen (
The composition of the committee itself was decided upon by Assembly delegates from 11 parties and civic groups, who agreed to meet on Monday.
Although the National Assembly cannot sit for longer than one month, Chang Ya-chung (
An assembly member will earn about NT$7,000 a day for the month.
Chang's proposal was supported by most parties, including the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which together will occupy more than 80 percent of assembly seats.
Both parties agreed to finish the session as quickly as possible but failed to specify how long this would be.
Taiwan Independence Party delegate Lin Chih-sheng (林志昇), however, opposed making a "hasty decision on such a significant matter."
The parties allocated five of the steering committee's 11 places to the DPP, which secured 127 seats in the 300-member assembly; four to the KMT, which gained 117 seats; one to the TSU for its 21 seats; and one to the PFP for its 18 seats.
The DPP committee members are Senior Presidential Adviser Yeh Chu-lan (
The KMT's members are Chen Chin-jang (
Former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) daughter, Annie Lee (李安妮), was named the TSU's representative, while former Control Yuan member and former member of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬) is the PFP's committee member.
Upset by the fact that the steering committee is dominated by the four political parties, Chen Yuan-chi (
The two parties refused to yield, saying that the composition of the committee was stipulated by law.
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
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The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final