Amid verbal clashes and political bickering, the legislature yesterday decided that it would not send any representatives to a court hearing for the pan-green camp's temporary injunction application on the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例).
But despite the skirmishes, the committee started work yesterday morning. Former Judicial Yuan president Shih Chi-yang (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), who filed the injunction request against the statute, yesterday confirmed that they would participate in the hearing.
The Judicial Yuan has requested that the DPP, the TSU and the legislature each designate representatives by tomorrow to attend the court hearing scheduled for Oct. 14.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"Many people don't agree that the legislature should be listed as the plaintiff in the case," Wang told reporters.
"As the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute has been passed into law, I'm calling on the ruling and opposition parties to respect the dignity of the lawmaking body," he said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
"We'll definitely attend, because we're one of the parties filing the request. The legislature is relinquishing its rights if it decides not to appear in court," Ker said.
The DPP is expected to send Legislator Yu Ching (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (
"Neither the Constitution nor any existing law provides for the the so-called `immediate temporary injunction,' so there shouldn't be any plaintiff or accused," he said.
Verbal clashes also erupted during the meeting of the Judiciary Committee. People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (
DPP lawmakers called Chou "shameless" and accused him of insulting the grand justices.
The DPP yesterday urged the Executive Yuan to neither cooperate with the "questionable committee," nor allocate any money to cover its operational costs.
In related news, actor Richard Gere -- in an interview aired on TVBS yesterday -- weighed in on the question of whether President Chen Shui-bian (
"What I thought was kind of bizarre was that the opposition assumed that he had set it up, in some way had himself shot," Gere said.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary