Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) overseas representatives have launched a petition calling for KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to be expelled for “undermining the party’s reputation.”
The petition, which was initiated by seven overseas representatives on Aug. 1, is expected to be voted on at the party’s national congress on Sept. 4.
“The KMT Evaluation and Discipline Committee reached a consensus to revoke Wang’s membership in 2013. However, due to political intervention in the judicial system, the due process for Wang’s expulsion was not completed,” the petition reads, adding that it is the representatives’ obligation to vote to expel Wang to maintain the party’s “normal function.”
The petition lists several reasons why the former legislative speaker deserves to be expelled, including his alleged meddling in a breach of trust lawsuit on behalf of Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in 2013, which it says tarnished the KMT’s reputation.
The representatives also criticized Wang for turning a blind eye to protesters who occupied the Legislative Yuan for almost 23 days in March and April 2014, which they said undermined the rule of law and the KMT’s image.
Wang’s decision as legislative speaker to form a cross-caucus negotiation mechanism with Ker while was also attacked.
The representatives said that action nullified the KMT’s advantage as the majority party in the legislature and impeded its efforts to pass many major bills.
Wang, whose 17-year run as legislative speaker ended in January, took the KMT to court in September 2013 after the KMT Evaluation and Discipline Committee revoked his membership at the request of then-president and KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The Taipei District Court and the Taiwan High Court in 2014 ruled in favor of Wang, ruling that he should retain his membership and rights as a member.
In October 2014, Ma ordered the party to appeal the High Court’s ruling.
In February last year, Ma’s successor as chairman, Eric Chu (朱立倫), decided not to pursue the KMT’s suit against Wang.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) yesterday said that procedural and substantive justice should be ensured in any proposal to expel party members or revoke their membership.
Even if the party congress votes in favor of the petition, the motion still has to go through a local branch’s disciplinary committee and then the Evaluation and Discipline Committee before being sent to the Central Standing Committee for approval.
“It is not up for the party congress to decide the fate of members that people like or do not like. That would just be tyranny of the majority,” Chow said.
‘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
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
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
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