Opposition lawmakers yesterday proposed a legal amendment that English-language competency should be mandatory for all presidential aspirants.
Presidential hopefuls who fail to pass the intermediate level of General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) would be disqualified from running in the presidential election, according to the proposed amendment presented by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑).
The GEPT is administered in five levels -- Elementary, Intermediate, High-Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior -- and includes listening, reading, writing and speaking components.
"As a president, he has to engage in many diplomatic activities and negotiate matters of significance on behalf of the country. The nation would lack dignity if a president didn't have basic English skills," Hsieh told a press conference.
At Hsieh's request, the legislature's Home and Nations Committee yesterday put the amendment on tomorrow's schedule.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said that Taiwan would be a laughing stock in the international community if Hsieh Kuo-liang's amendment were passed.
Asked to comment on the proposal, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said it was "unnecessary" and "unreasonable."
"If it is really necessary that a president be proficient in a foreign language, that language doesn't necessarily have to be English. Most of our allies speak Spanish ... or maybe Japanese, as Japan is very near to us," Su said, addressing People First Party Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鐘紹和) in a legislative question-and-answer session yesterday.
KMT Legislator Liou Wan-ju (
The factors in selecting the leader of a country are a candidate's "capabilities" and "vision" rather than foreign language skills, Su added.
Former premier Frank Hsieh (
The requirement seems "reasonable" only if the rules of the game are established in advance, Frank Hsieh said yesterday.
Asked at a separate event yesterday to comment on the proposal, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) -- another presidential hopeful who speaks English -- said there was no need for an English proficiency test and that presidential contenders should instead demonstrate that they have a global perspective.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, who is also vying for the DPP's presidential nomination, said last night that if the English proficiency test were all that important, people might as well just make the national English speech contest champion the president of Taiwan.
Aiming to counter the KMT's proposal, DPP legislators Hsueh Ling (薛凌), Sandy Yen (莊和子) and Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧) said yesterday that they would propose an additional amendment requiring aspiring presidential candidates to pass a Hoklo proficiency test.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS