The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), with help from the People First Party (PFP), adjourned yesterday's plenary legislative session, thwarting two key bills.
The plenary session was supposed to review a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) initiated amendment to the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) that would prevent any individual convicted in a corruption case from registering as a presidential or vice presidential candidate.
The amendment was aimed at preventing former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
The pan-blues also sought to block a Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) proposed bill designed to recover the KMT's stolen assets.
In order to block review of the two bills, the KMT proposed adjourning the plenary session. The adjournment effectively extends to next Tuesday, pushing the two bills back to the legislature's Procedure Committee.
The DPP caucus asked for a vote to prevent the adjournment proposal, but the motion to adjourn passed with 100 votes in favor and 97 against, out of the 198 legislators present at the session.
The KMT's victory, which had 84 of its 90 sitting legislators present, was a result of the support of 11 out of the total 21 PFP legislators, and five of the eight Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) lawmakers.
The DPP, whose 84 legislators were all present, and all 12 TSU legislators lost the bid, despite support from one independent legislator.
The PFP, which formerly said it would not get involved in the matter, threw its support behind the KMT at the last minute during yesterday's session.
After his caucus' failure to stop the session from adjourning, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
"The blocking of the amendment will only ruin the KMT's future ... How could a person indicted on corruption charges represent the nation?" he added. "We are very sorry that the KMT has dug its own grave."
Meanwhile, the TSU caucus had harsh words for the pan-blue camp, saying that the two opposition caucuses had resorted to "majority violence."
"We need clean politics, and the president should be a role model," TSU Legislator Kuo Lin-yung (郭林勇) told a press conference.
"It will be a joke on a global scale if we elect a corrupt president," TSU Legislator Liao Pen-yen (
KMT legislative whip Hsu Shao-ping (
Executive director of the PFP caucus' Policy Committee, Hwang Yih-jiau (
Prior to the session yesterday, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) told the press that he personally disapproved of the DPP's proposed amendment, because it seemed tailor-made for one individual.
"However, we still have to deal with the amendment in accordance with stipulated procedures, because lawmakers are entitled to introduce bills," he said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
also see story:
KMT rebuts reports farmers' group will form political party
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS