The Legislative Yuan should convene and vote again on amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法), as the Executive Yuan has found the amendments challenging to enact, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday at the legislature in Taipei.
The Legislative Yuan is to review and decide whether to accept the Cabinet’s motion tomorrow.
The original review of the amendments contravened democratic principles, and the result could not be considered “law” due to the lack of proper discussion at any stage in the process, while unnecessary restrictions prevented those with opposing views from fully expressing their opinions, Cho said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Normalizing the president giving a state of the nation address at the legislature and answering lawmakers’ questions is unconstitutional, he said.
The National Assembly, which chose the president before direct elections in 1996, had no power to interrupt the president when they gave a state of the nation address, and the legislature, which inherited most of the National Assembly’s powers after it was frozen in 2005, should not retain powers exceeding those of its predecessor, Cho said.
The powers of inquiry, investigation and summoning witnesses for testimony in the amendments challenge the separation of powers and infringe on the people’s basic rights, he said.
The power of inquiry is given to investigate whether the government is at fault, and is under the jurisdiction of the Control Yuan and the judiciary, while no laws mandate the public’s cooperation with a government institution to fulfill its duties, Cho said.
It is not guaranteed that the legislature’s investigations would benefit the public more than they would infringe on people’s rights, he said.
The amendments touch on the powers of personnel ratification, but fail to set a time frame for deliberation, and overly long ratifications could prevent individuals from assuming office and affect government operations, Cho said.
The acts that would be defined as being “in contempt of the legislature” needed to be clarified, and if left as is, the amendments would only cause political strife to spill over into the judiciary, he said.
Cho said he was not against legislative reform, but such reforms should remain under the framework separating the five branches of the central government.
KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said that of the 680 people accused of breaching the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) from 2016 to January 2020, 500 were found to be innocent and victims of government abuse of power.
Failure to amend the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power is why no member of the public has been asked to stand before the legislature to assist in investigations into government abuse of power, Lo said.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS