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 signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS