Five senior Cabinet members yesterday visited the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會), but the visit descended into chaos immediately upon their arrival at the committee's office.
The five Cabinet members, including Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Shih greeted the five with a question as they stepped through the door.
"Excuse me, but why do you think the existence of this committee is against the law, against the Constitution?" Shih asked, smiling. "What makes you think so?"
Su responded that it was difficult for the Cabinet to accept the statute -- drawn up quickly to form the committee before the end of the last legislative session -- because it was too vague in the powers and limitations it endows on the committee.
"Well, I suppose that is because `Mr. Minister' did not study his law books very well," committee member Chai Tsung-chuan (
Chen Chi-mai tried to smooth over the awkward start to the meeting, saying that the visit was meant to try and work out differences, not to create more problems.
"We are here to show our sincerety and hope that we can work something out, since many people have an issue with the statute," Chen Chi-mai said.
Chen Ding-nan said that the pan-green camp has filed an application requesting a constitutional interpretation regarding the statute.
"It is quite possible that the grand justices will rule the statute invalid, since it is against the Constitution," Chen Ding-nan said.
"The committee should suspend its operation until the grand justices come up with a decision. That is my sincere hope," he added.
Chen Ding-nan's remarks immediately sparked a screaming match, with numerous committee members competing to get their voices heard above the fray.
"If this is an illegal committee, then what are you here for, and why are you here now?" committee member Stephen Chen (
After a short row, the committee told the five Cabinet members to leave, saying it appeared little progress would be made with the meeting.
Meanwhile, committee members ordered prosecutors from Tainan to come to Taipei for interviews yesterday, but the prosecutors did not show up, and did not explain the reasons for their absence.
Committee spokeswoman Wang Ching-fong (王清峰) said that the prosecutors' failure to acknowledge the committee's order was of no consequence, as the committee will send members to visit the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office today.
The Executive Yuan yesterday expressed regret over the fruitless meeting, but reiterated their staunch refusal to cooperate with the committee in any way until the committee's legality has been established.
"Our stance on the matter is clear. We'll continue to negotiate with the committee," Chen Chi-mai told the press conference held after their return from the failed visit. "Our door is always open, should they want to talk. We'll also continue to try and arrange another meeting, if possible."
Chen Chi-mai said the Cabinet's position on the matter is that it supports an investigation into the assassination attempt, but opposes carrying out an investigation in an unconstitutional manner.
Hsu Chih-hsiung said the statute allows opposition parties to usurp powers reserved for the state. The Cabinet will take responsibility for the consequences of its actions, should the ruling on the statute run against it, he said.
"The least the people -- and the government -- can do, in the face of a law which is unconstitutional and violates human rights, is to disobey it," he said. "Of course, we're responsible for the risk we are taking and the consequences that are entailed should the judiciary decide we're wrong."
Chen Ding-nan said that he managed to express his opinion about the contentious legislation during the meeting, although he failed to catch hold of the microphone.
"We're concerned about how to make up for the losses when people's rights are violated and government authority is encroached upon," Chen Ding-nan said.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
RSS