Pan-blue legislators continued their opposition to President Chen Shui-bian's (
Aboriginal Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) was indignant about the lack of representation of Aboriginals on the list, saying that when Control Yuan member Chen Jinn-lih (陳進利) ends his tenure, there will be no Aboriginal members at all.
Liao yesterday said he would lead Aboriginal legislators in rejecting any list of nominations unless Chen included Aboriginal people.
Meanwhile. Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), executive director of the KMT's central policy committee, accused Chen of playing games in saying that he wanted input from all political parties on the nominations, but then failing to get in contact with the KMT or the People First Party (PFP) after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) turned down his approach.
KMT legislative whip Huang Teh-fu (
He added that the opposition had on different occasions questioned the suitability of Nita Ing (
PFP legislative whip Liu Wen-hsiung (
Liu said that although some of the names on the list were acceptable, the present nominations would result in a Control Yuan that could not be effective in its work as a watchdog.
He stopped short of rejecting the list outright, saying that this would be unfair to more worthy nominees. He said the PFP would discuss the issue with the KMT later, but in the meantime the PFP would not cooperate with the pan green camp on the issue.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The nominations were delivered to the Legislative Yuan on Monday, and Wang convened negotiations the following day. But they broke down owing to pan-blue-camp dissatisfaction with the DPP over amendments to the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例).
Additional reporting by Debby Wu
‘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
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated