A veteran legislator from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) announced yesterday that he would introduce a motion seeking to recall President Chen Shui-bian (
In a news release, KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (
Ting also urged supporters of the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its pan-green ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), to exert pressure on party legislators to support the motion.
According to the nation's Constitution, a motion to recall the president would need the support of at least three-quarters, or 147, of all the legislative members.
Ting said the motion would be introduced to reflect the public's fury over a series of corruption and insider trading scandals implicating officials of the Presidential Office and members of the first family.
diverting attention
Ting said that the president's nomination on Friday of Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明), public prosecutor-general of the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung branch, to the position of state public prosecutor-general, was intended to divert the nation's attention from all the scandals.
Chen Tsung-ming, who has served as the convener of a task force investigating the scandal involving the construction of the mass rapid transit railway project in Kaohsiung, has disappointed the nation because of the slow progress made on the case, Ting argued.
block promised
Opposition legislators have vowed that they will use their right of consent to block Chen's nomination.
The new nomination became necessary after the legislature rejected the president's first nominee, Hsieh Wen-ting (
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
strong pressure
However, under strong pressure from within the KMT and other sectors, the KMT chairman agreed to gauge public opinion through an opinion survey on whether President Chen should be recalled due to a series of corruption scandals involving his close aides and members of his extended family.
Ma said that he would recommend the poll's questionnaire include the question of whether both the president and Vice President Annette Lu (
Also see editorial:
Editorial: Why recall the president?
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty