Even those without legal training know that the constitution is the most fundamental law of a country. Since the start of the legislative session, three legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) coalition — KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲), KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) and TPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) — have prioritized the introduction of several amendments that would expand legislative powers.
The goal of these amendments is to help the opposition manipulate the constitutional system, making it easier to comply with the Chinese Communist Party’s requirements for Taiwan and allow the opposition to smoothly seize administrative resources.
Fortunately, the Cabinet followed the constitutional system and challenged the legislation in the Constitutional Court, allowing the judiciary to make a ruling on these harmful and unconstitutional provisions. The court’s ruling followed the spirit of the Constitution — they determined that most of the amendments were unconstitutional, especially those that would grant lawmakers broader investigative powers because they would lead to a situation where expanded legislative powers would undermine executive authority.
The Cabinet has acted entirely in accordance with the Constitution, yet Weng unexpectedly proposed that the Legislative Yuan need not comply with the court’s ruling. Alarmism like this is detrimental to the constitutional system. Weng and Huang each hold a doctorate in law, while Wu has previously served as a prosecutor. Even with such prestigious legal backgrounds, they are willing to play with the law and ignore the constitutional order merely to obtain political power.
Even though the opposition coalition holds a legislative majority, the results of the presidential election granted executive power to the Democratic Progressive Party. The KMT-TPP coalition hopes to use their majority to prevent President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration from promoting policies beneficial to Taiwan, thereby paralyzing further progress.
However, our constitutional system is not so easily harmed. Legislative powers cannot undermine executive powers, nor can they compromise the Constitution or the nation. Taking that step would inflict irreversible damage from which our country might never recover.
If even our legislators say that we need not comply with the constitutional system, why should the public even bother to follow national law? This ideology would lead to chaos — the true intention of the KMT-TPP coalition.
Chen Chi-nung is a political commentator.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention. If it makes headlines, it is because China wants to invade. Yet, those who find their way here by some twist of fate often fall in love. If you ask them why, some cite numbers showing it is one of the freest and safest countries in the world. Others talk about something harder to name: The quiet order of queues, the shared umbrellas for anyone caught in the rain, the way people stand so elderly riders can sit, the
Taiwan’s fall would be “a disaster for American interests,” US President Donald Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday last week, as he warned of the “dramatic deterioration of military balance” in the western Pacific. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is indeed facing a unique and acute threat from the Chinese Communist Party’s rising military adventurism, which is why Taiwan has been bolstering its defenses. As US Senator Tom Cotton rightly pointed out in the same hearing, “[although] Taiwan’s defense spending is still inadequate ... [it] has been trending upwards
Small and medium enterprises make up the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, yet large corporations such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) play a crucial role in shaping its industrial structure, economic development and global standing. The company reported a record net profit of NT$374.68 billion (US$11.41 billion) for the fourth quarter last year, a 57 percent year-on-year increase, with revenue reaching NT$868.46 billion, a 39 percent increase. Taiwan’s GDP last year was about NT$24.62 trillion, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, meaning TSMC’s quarterly revenue alone accounted for about 3.5 percent of Taiwan’s GDP last year, with the company’s
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
RSS