A private constitutional reform group yesterday made public a draft constitution which proposed calling the country Taiwan and advocated a presidential system.
Lee Hung-hsi (李鴻禧), convener of the New Constitution Workshop, said the country had reached its "constitutional moment" and there was no turning back from enacting a new constitution and revising the national title.
Lee, who was previously in favor of a parliamentary system, said he had changed his position because he realized that it would be dangerous to let legislators double up as ministers, taking into account the quality of lawmakers and the country's political divisions.
Lee, who supervised President Chen Shui-bian (
The preamble of the draft declares that the constitution is established by the people of Taiwan to consolidate Taiwan's sustainable independence, peace and security. Taiwan is a free, democratic republic that is governed by the rule of law and promotes general welfare.
Former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (
Saying that he agreed Kinmen and Matsu "are not part of Tai-wan," Lee said he did not think it was necessary to specify the fact in the constitution.
While the current Constitution stipulates a five-branch government, the draft proposes three branches.
The draft uses a neutral tone to describe the relationship between Taiwan and China, stating that the countries must get along peacefully with each other.
The proposal opposes the death sentence and approves same sex marriage. The age at which citizens have the right to vote would be changed from 20 to 18.
In addition to the legislature and the president being able to initiate a national referendum, the people would also be given that right. The people would have the right to launch a plebiscite to amend the Constitution, change territorial boundaries or address national sovereignty.
The executive power would be vested in the president, who together with the vice president would be chosen by a popular vote and serve a four-year term.
The draft states that no person except a Taiwan-born citizen can be eligible for the office of president.
It also proposes that the president should, from time to time, brief the legislature on the state of the nation and recommend for their consideration such measures as he judges necessary.
The legislature should be composed of 90 regional legislators, 60 legislators at large and six Aboriginal representatives, each for a two-year term, it suggested.
The draft also proposes establishing an independent body, the national audit commission, to be nominated by the president and approved by the legislature.
It also suggests banning political parties from managing or investing in profit-making busi-nesses and requiring them to make public their source of income and assets.
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