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?
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS