President Chen Shui-bian (
"The EU's experiences in integrating the nations of Europe sheds a lot of light on how Taiwan might conduct future relations with China. The reason the EU is successful is because the principles of voluntary participation, equality and peace are upheld, and that trade-based interactions serve as the initial approach to bringing European countries closer for further integration," Chen said yesterday in a meeting with French parliamentarian Alain Madelin in the Presidential Office.
Chen mentioned in his inauguration speech on May 20 that the EU model could be the approach used to address cross-strait issues based on "peaceful development and freedom of choice," a premise that could set relations in any form between Taiwan and China, as long as the consent of Taiwan's 23 million people is gained.
Madelin yesterday however pointed out a hindrance for the application of the EU model across the Taiwan Strait, as China has never forsaken the option of using force against Taiwan.
"The process of the European integration is based on the peaceful relations among all European countries. However, in the context of cross-strait relations, China has never given up the possibility of using force against Taiwan. Under such an entirely different situation, it will be very difficult for cross-strait relations to develop like the EU," Madelin was quoted as saying in a press release by the Presidential Office yesterday.
In addition, Chen yesterday drew comparisons between Taiwan's constitutional framework and dual-executive system -- or semi-presidential system -- and the French dual-executive system, in an effort to highlight the need to revamp the Constitution.
Chen said the reason the government is planning on revamping the Constitution is to revise the current constitutional system, a mixture between the presidential system and parliamentary system which has generated many problems and hinders the functioning of government system.
Chen said "although the design of Taiwan's constitutional framework takes part of its structure from the French dual-executive system, the copy of such a design is flawed, and leaves Taiwan's system as something that is neither a presidential system, parliamentary system, nor a French-style dual-executive system.
"This is why we need to conduct constitutional reengineering to solve this fundamental problem with our Constitution."
Madelin, also a lawyer, has 25 years of experience serving as a parliamentarian, cabinet minister and a member of the European Parliament. He is the founder of the French Liberal Democratic Party, of which he is the chairman.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
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