While I'm happy to see the National Assembly downgraded to near insignificance ("Step taken to downgrade Assembly," April 13), there are still some issues that concern me. Most of the National Assembly's powers will apparently be transferred to the Legislative Yuan, which will further destroy the practically non-existent check and balances between the five supposedly equal Yuans.
Since much of the Control Yuan's original power had been gobbled up by the National Assembly, why not make the Control Yuan the sole government body to impeach any government official, including the president? And why not also give the Control Yuan the right to approve Cabinet, Examination Yuan, and Judicial Yuan appointments, and even to override any Cabinet veto on a law passed by the Legislature? After all, the Control Yuan is supposed to be a watchdog body to enforce the integrity of the other branches of government.
Also, the original purpose of the National Assembly was to exercise the people's sovereignty, but I think it's better to have people exercising their sovereignty through plebecites sponsored by the Legislative Yuan. It's time to trust the people to exercise their sovreignty rather than have political representatives to do it for them.
Allen T. Chang
Berkeley, California
View from the bleachers
On April 14, two letters to the editor were published, which, while sharing the fact that they were both sent from Vancouver were far different in content.
James Chou described Taiwan as a Utopia. But from the eyes of a current resident, we are still far from telling the PRC to let go of "legacy." It may be "utterly immoral" for the PRC to constantly threaten the island's security, but let's be pragmatic: People are scared for the very reason that the PRC will not abandon the use of force if our president or vice president-elect are not careful with their words. Therefore I do not agree that Annette Lu should "hang in there" and feel free to say whatever comes to mind.
As suggested by Isaac Ho, "silence is a virtue." If we believe we are independent, then we are and when the time is right, we will say it openly. However, the security of Taiwan's residents should come first. Don't wave banners and say "go, go, go" when you're watching things from across the Pacific.
Linda Su
Taipei
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