President William Lai (賴清德) is to hold talks with the leaders of the government’s five branches on Monday to address political challenges, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday.
Kuo in a brief statement said the president was scheduled to meet with the leaders at 3pm to discuss issues related to Taiwan in light of “the severe challenges posed by the political and economic situation at home and abroad.”
The meeting would aim to foster agreement and cooperation between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and the opposition, ensuring better implementation of government policies, she said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The leaders of the five branches are Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Acting Judicial Yuan President Shieh Ming-yan (謝銘洋), Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊) and Examination Yuan President Chou Hung-hsien (周弘憲).
Among the five, Han is from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), while Cho and Chen are members of the DPP.
Shieh was appointed Constitutional Court justice by former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the DPP and confirmed by the DPP-led legislature in 2019, while Chou was appointed by Lai and confirmed in a bipartisan vote last year.
Given that only one of the five branches is led by a member of the opposition, it was unclear what Lai hopes to accomplish with the meeting.
Lai, who also chairs the DPP, and Han met last month at the Presidential Office in a bid to resolve party differences, but the meeting did not achieve any breakthroughs.
KMT Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) yesterday said that as a legislative speaker, Han was responsible for mediating disputes among legislative caucuses, while upholding the principle of neutrality and could do little more than relay Lai’s message to legislators.
If the president intended to resolve party differences, he should have invited the heads of the DPP, the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as well as party caucus leaders to the meeting, she said.
The KMT has 52 seats in the legislature, the DPP has 51, the TPP has eight and there are two independents ideologically aligned with the KMT in the 113-seat body.
The alliance of the KMT and the TPP have enabled them to thwart DPP initiatives while passing bills the DPP government has opposed. Neither side has shown much, if any, interest in compromise.
The sparring between the two sides has spilled over into the public sphere, with DPP members and civic groups supporting initiatives seeking to recall many of the elected KMT lawmakers.
To date, campaigners have submitted initial recall petitions for 18 KMT lawmakers. The KMT has begun to retaliate and so far has submitted an initial recall petition for one DPP lawmaker.
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