Despite Monday's ruling from the Council of Grand Justices that was intended to resolve the dispute over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四), fighting between the DPP and the opposition renewed yesterday, as did the possibility of a no-confidence vote against Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄).
A main bone of contention is whether the plant's construction should resume before the Cabinet delivers to the Legislative Yuan a report on its intention to scrap the project.
The other issue is whether the Cabinet, after presenting its report, must comply with the legislature if it passes a resolution that may go against the Cabinet's wishes.
Opposition lawmakers insist that construction work must be resumed immediately, and have threatened to launch a no-confidence vote against Chang if he refuses to listen to the legislature.
"We won't allow the premier to disrespect the legislature, and we certainly don't rule out the possibility of raising a no-confidence vote against his Cabinet," said Cheng Yung-chin (
Citing Monday's ruling to back up the point, Lai Shyh-bao (
"The grand justices already made this point very clear. If the Executive Yuan still refuses to obey, it will be against the Constitution," Lai said.
Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交), spokesman for the People First Party caucus, said the opposition parties are giving Chang an opportunity "to atone for his mistake."
"If he continues to violate the law, the legislature will look into his political responsibility," Hwang said.
Hwang said Monday's ruling pointed to "procedural flaws" in the Cabinet's October decision to scrap the plant, and so therefore the order is invalid because the process was unlawful.
Based on this logic, Hwang said construction work should be resumed immediately so as to restore the situation to "a lawful state."
Members of the DPP legislative caucus, however, said that it is unnecessary to resume construction work first, because the grand justices have not required the Executive Yuan to do so.
Chou Po-lun (周伯倫), DPP caucus convener, said the grand justices have stated that the Cabinet may carry out its plan to scrap the project if the plan obtains majority support from legislators.
"Before Premier Chang delivers his report to the legislature, the decision to halt the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will remain valid," Chou said.
Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday predicted that the political struggle will continue unless the Cabinet is willing to show goodwill by announcing the resumption of construction work.
"The Executive Yuan acted like a thief in making a unilateral decision to discontinue the project. Before we can sit down to discuss the aftermath, we should ask the Executive Yuan to return what it has taken first, rather than allowing it to appropriate what it has stolen," Wang said.
Chen Horng-chi (陳鴻基), chairman of the Generation-E Alliance (e世代問政聯盟), a faction of KMT legislators, said procrastination over the project's resumption would create a good opportunity for the legislature to start a no-confidence vote against the premier.
"The Executive Yuan should specifically announce a continuation of the project. The DPP will be responsible for the collapse of Taiwan's economy if it keeps delaying it," Chen said.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
RSS