Initiatives proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to have President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) brief lawmakers on her decision to allow imports of US pork containing ractopamine were rejected yesterday.
The two proposals were voted down in the legislature after the KMT presented them on Sept. 18.
One was to invite the president to report to the legislature on her administration’s decision on US pork containing ractopamine, and the other was to have Tsai make the process leading up to the decision public and apologize for making it without first discussing it with all parties involved.
Photo: CNA
After Democratic Progressive Party and KMT lawmakers were unable to reach a consensus on the proposals during a month of negotiations, the legislature put them to a vote yesterday morning.
The first proposal to have Tsai brief lawmakers was defeated 55-40.
The second, which asked Tsai to apologize, was rejected 58-38.
The KMT said that the two smaller parties with caucuses — the Taiwan People’s Party and the New Power Party — also backed the proposals, but their combined seats were well short of a majority.
KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said that the Constitution stipulates that the Legislative Yuan can ask the president to report to it to explain major national policies.
The DPP’s use of its majority to avoid taking responsibility for its policy was unbecoming of a ruling party, Lin said.
DPP caucus whip Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is more than willing to brief lawmakers on the decision, but the KMT continues to boycott his report.
The pork policy, which is to go into effect on Jan. 1, was announced by Tsai on Aug. 28 in an apparent effort to clear the way for a trade deal with the US.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS