The Legislature Yuan achieved a new low on Tuesday, difficult as it may be to believe that it can continue to find new depths to sink to. The usual tussles and shoving matches included two female lawmakers in a hair-pulling and slapping contest. Both women ended up in the legislature's medical center afterward and one was later taken to a hospital for further examination.
While the public appears to have grown inured to chaotic nursery-school scenes on the legislative floor, one cannot help but imagine how frustrating it must be to be a president of a country who has to deal with this delinquent behavior on a weekly basis.
If any inspiration were to be drawn from Tuesday's chaotic replays of the previous week's spats, it would be that the country is in desperate need of a new constitution since the current one no longer provides the framework for a functioning democracy.
When Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ran into strong opposition to his efforts to privatize Japan Post, he decided to dissolve parliament and call new elections. The result was a victory for his Liberal Democratic Party, which now holds a parliamentary majority.
Taiwan's political system is different from that of Japan. The premier does not possesses the authority to initiate a no-confidence vote. Taiwan's system is a semi-presidential one, similar to that of France. So President Chen Shui-bian (
Lawmakers' absurd behavior is all right if the legislature wishes to keep its infamous reputation. But it is disturbing and intolerable that lawmakers seem determined to drag Taiwan's development and national reputation down as well.
There are 12 legislative committees. Dominated by the pan-blues, the committees' sole motivation appears to be an obsession with chipping away at the administration's authority and blocking any of its reform efforts. The worst one in this regard is the Procedure Committee, which on Tuesday rejected the arms-procurement budget for the 30th time, refusing to put it on the legislature's agenda. It also blocked Chen's lists of nominees for the Control Yuan once again.
No matter how much the pan-blue lawmakers try to deny their bias, it is clear that any draft bill or budget proposal that the pan-blue camp is opposed to will never make it out of the Procedure Committee. There is no chance that any of the other committees might have the chance to review the proposals, much less that they get put to a vote on the legislative floor.
There are a number of politicians, both inside and outside the legislature, who are apparently blind to the mass migration of Taiwanese industries to China, to China's military threat, the rising unemployment rate and the plight of people living in flood-prone areas. They cannot see the people because they have their sights locked on the 2008 presidential election.
The complete malfunction on display daily in the legislature has pushed Taiwan's democracy to the edge of a cliff. The lawmakers may enjoy their fistfights, name-calling and food fights, but most people are heartily sick of it all. The emperor Nero has gone down in history as fiddling while Rome burned. Taiwan's legislators will be remembered for their histrionics and sham fights as the nation's economy and future fell to pieces around them.
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
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