The legislature was idle for the entire day yesterday as the three Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers boycotted a question-and-answer session because of their discontent over the government’s decision to conditionally allow imports of US beef.
TSU lawmakers Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信), Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) and Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) occupied the podium on the legislative floor and demanded discussion of their motion to speed up deliberations on amendments to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法).
The amendments were referred by a plenary session on Friday to the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee for review, while the TSU asked for a reconsideration to skip the preliminary procedures to counter the pace of the government lifting the import ban.
Hsu accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of “arbitrarily making the decision,” “[holding] the legislature and lawmakers in contempt” and “[showing] a callous disregard for public health.”
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) refused to deal with the motion, citing the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Yuan (立法院議事規則), which stipulates that motions must be proposed on the first day of the two-day session, which was on Friday. Wang blasted the TSU lawmakers for their “unfamiliarity” with procedural rules and said they were just “making a show in front of the media.”
Cabinet officials left the session with the permission of Wang after 11am and did not show up in the afternoon. The session was dismissed at 5:30pm.
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
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from