The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses would invite President William Lai (賴清德) to give a state of the nation address at the legislature following pre-legislative reform bill rules, opposition leaders said yesterday.
Their comments came one day after the Constitutional Court issued an injunction against a part of the controversial revisions to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) and the Criminal Code, which were passed in late May, was signed by the president on June 24 and came into effect on June 26.
The President, the Executive Yuan, the Control Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus separately filed for a constitution interpretation and injunction to halt the implementation of the amended laws.
Photo: CNA
The DPP caucus said the opposition should heed the court’s warning, but added that Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is entitled to negotiate the matter at the Legislative Yuan.
Earlier that day, TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the court’s ruling on amendments to Article 15 of the act did not abolish the right of lawmakers to request the president’s presence.
This means the Legislative Yuan can ask questions that the president may choose to respond to, he said, adding that Lai should make good on the promises he made on the campaign trail to work with lawmakers.
Huang also accused the government of judicial impropriety, saying: “The Constitutional Court trampled the law to serve the DPP.”
That DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) knew the court would issue an injunction and when it would happen showed there was a breach of confidentiality rules, he said.
The court’s decision went against the precedent established by Constitutional Interpretation No. 585, he added.
The grand justices’ ruling failed to address the standing issue raised by the Legislative Yuan during the statement of opinion, showing the decision had been pre-prepared, Huang said.
On the sidelines of a panel on legislative reform in New Taipei City, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said the DPP’s foreknowledge of the ruling was evidence of impropriety.
The power to investigate and call witnesses to hearings is the same right and privilege enjoyed by lawmakers in democracies around the world, he said.
Asked about Chu and Huang’s comments, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the DPP party anticipated the court’s ruling because hundreds of lawyers said the bill amounted to an unconstitutional power grab.
The timing of the decision was transparent to anyone with a passing familiarity of the court’s schedule, she said.
On the TPP and KMT’s proposed invitation, Wu said the court’s injunction permits lawmakers to invite the president to the legislature, but not to dictate the terms of the exchange.
“The ruling flashed a stop sign that the opposition should do well to heed before charging headlong across the railroad,” she said.
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
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,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS