The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday put forward a list of priority bills to be reviewed in the new legislative session, with pension reform, labor rights protection and Aboriginal transitional justice taking center stage.
The party is to propose a draft bill on recognizing the seniority of personnel transferring between political parties, government agencies and public schools, as well as draft amendments to the Act Governing the Recompense for the Discharge of Special Political Appointees (政務人員退職撫卹條例), aimed at reforming a privileged pension system enjoyed by the likes of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
Lien’s term of service in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is counted toward his seniority in the government, and he is eligible to receive an 18 percent preferential savings interest rate, Hsu said.
While the particulars of the draft bill and amendments are being discussed, these aim to reform the seniority system and the preferential savings interest rate, he said.
“There is social consensus for the proposed reforms and we are calling on ‘Lien Chans’ to cooperate,” Hsu said.
The proposals are also aimed at initiating the first pension reform before the Cabinet tables an official reform plan, Hsu added.
Other priority bills proposed by the NPP included draft amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法); a draft minimum wages act; amendments to the Estate and Gift Tax Act (遺產及贈與稅法); a draft taxpayer protection act; amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) and Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法); a draft act on the freedom of assembly; a draft Aboriginal transitional justice act; a draft Aboriginal land and sea rights act; amendments to the Education Act for Indigenous Peoples (原住民族教育法); a draft act on citizen participation in the court system; amendments to Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the State Compensation Act (國家賠償法), among others.
Meanwhile, NPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) criticized the Executive Yuan, which proposed a plan to allow Chinese investors to purchase stock-based funds in Taiwan, but tried to avoid bringing the plan to legislative review.
“The government’s sudden and unilateral move has left Sunflower movement supporters dumbfounded,” he said, adding that the NPP will mobilize the legislature to put the plan under review.
The party will continue to push for a cross-strait agreements oversight bill in line with the proposals put forward during the Sunflower movement in 2014, Huang said.
China has attempted to coerce Taiwan by manipulating the tourism market and Taiwan’s economy, and should the Democratic Progressive Party government cave in to Chinese pressure and accept the “one China” principle, Taiwan would lose its sovereignty and national security, Huang said.
The nation can navigate the crisis in the tourism industry amid a steep decline in the number of Chinese tourists if the government can use the downturn as an opportunity to improve the tourism sector, Hsu 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