Former National Assembly Speaker Su Nan-cheng (
The KMT's Evaluation and Discipline Committee unanimously approved the expulsion of Su and immediately sent an official letter to the Central Election Committee (CEC).
Officials at the CEC confirmed they had received the letter requesting Su's expulsion from the National Assembly.
"At the earliest we could convene a special meeting tomorrow, or perhaps within two or three days time, to complete all the necessary paper work,'' said Chen Hsueh-hui (陳雪慧), secretary-general of the CEC.
Su was expelled following the passing of a series of measures in September that amended the Constitution, by extending the term of assembly members by more than two years and replacing future elections with a system of proportional representation.
Su was accused of contravening the party line by allowing assembly deputies to vote for a second time during the second reading of the controversial term-extension amendment, after the motion had failed to pass the first time.
Though the KMT and DPP headquarters strongly opposed the term extensions, deputies of both parties came out in support of the move in the early hours of Sept. 4.
The KMT's Central Standing Committee, the party's highest decision-making body, approved Su's expulsion from the party on Sept. 8.
But legal protection measures in the party constitution allow disciplined members to file an appeal within 30 days, after receiving notice of punishment against them.
Su did appeal to the party's discipline committee with a 20,000 character report on Oct. 19.
But it was not until Oct. 27, when media reports revealed no action had been taken, that there was fierce criticism of the KMT in the press.
As a result KMT headquarters was forced to accelerate the expulsion process by announcing it would convene a provisional disciplinary meeting.
Chien Wei-chang (
"Su tried to shift the blame to party headquarters for its obscure stance on constitutional reform, and to the assembly's caucus leader for lacking strong leadership, while reiterating that what he did was appropriate in his role as Assembly Speaker,'' Chien said.
Chien, however, dismissed Su's words as empty, saying, "It was as clear as crystal, that everyone from President Lee Teng-hui (
Among the participating disciplinary members, Chien said, no-one defended Su's behavior.
On the contrary, several blasted his lack of self-criticism in the appeal. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the party's Central Standing Committee will approve the expulsion order next Wednesday.
It will be the second time Su has been kicked out of the party, having been first expelled for violating a party resolution and running for Tainan City Mayor in 1972, an election he won.
After winning a re-election in 1982 Su was allowed to return into the KMT fold.
While all KMT heavyweights called for the dismissal of Su's party membership, opposition members, including the DPP's Assembly caucus leader, crossed party lines to back up Su.
"The KMT has 180 seats in the Assembly compared with the DPP, which has only 88, so Su is just a referee. It was strange to see such a strong team as the KMT -- who lost the [constitutional amendment] game to us -- punishing Su, rather than the coach [KMT Secretary-General John Chang], or team leaders [such as KMT Assembly caucus leader Chen Ming-jen (
Some cynics said the KMT move was an attempt to protect the party's presidential candidate's credibility and popularity, against charges of cronyism.
"It couldn't be more obvious that the KMT's quick response to Su's expulsion case was meant mainly to prevent further potential damage to Lien Chan's campaign," said Spencer Yang (
"The issue could not be allowed to fester as the result would have affected Lien's popularity rating in opinion polls. That is something he cannot afford," Spencer said.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS