The motion to set up a constitutional amendment committee was passed yesterday by the legislature’s Procedure Committee to be placed on the agenda for the next legislative floor meeting on Friday.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has taken up long-proposed calls for constitutional amendments after its rout in last month’s nine-in-one elections.
A group of KMT legislators worked last week to align with opposition lawmakers to propose the establishment of a constitutional amendment committee in a bid to solve a constitutional-political impasse said to have led to political upheavals in the past few years.
Photo: Taipei Times
KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and Democratic Progressive Party legislators Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) sponsored the motions to set up the committee, which according to law must be established to deliberate on revisions and reach resolutions.
KMT caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said he expects the proposal to pass on Friday and added that a constitutional amendment team would be set up within the caucus to work out related issues.
The committee, if set up, would be the first since 2004.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), the sole contender for KMT chairperson, reiterated that “constitutional amendments are a must.”
Chu has proposed revising the quasi-presidential system to a fully parliamentary system.
However, not everyone in the KMT seemed to like the idea, with Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), a KMT vice chairman, saying: “Do not try to abolish the presidential system out of dislike for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).”
Chu did not respond to Hu’s remark directly, but said that dysfunction in the political system has been manifest for the past 20 years and witnessed by everyone in the nation.
He is not the only one who has expressed concern over the current situation, Chu added, saying that the government must be reformed into one that sees power commensurate with accountability.
“[Amendments] should not involve partisan biases and personal calculation,” he said.
Chu said that, regardless of one’s attitude toward the proposed parliamentary system, anyone who is to roll out the amendment project has to speak to academics, experts and politicians from different parties.
Chu said the party would not be ruled by a single person’s dictates or by an unchallenged “supreme leader.”
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS