The Legislative Yuan is bracing itself for a showdown vote today on the law governing the operation of the National Assembly as cross-party talks called to tackle the issue yesterday failed to get off the ground.
After the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was the only party to show up for the talks, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"Since these are the last cross-party talks held to discuss the matter, I will handle the DPP caucus' motion [today] in accordance with the law if it files a request to reconsider the legislation," he said.
Despite joining other parties to pass the Law on the National Assembly's Exercise of Power (
The National Assembly is to meet in the coming weeks to approve a raft of constitutional amendments passed by the legislature last August, which include halving the legislature, abolishing the assembly and putting the right to referendum in the Constitution.
The DPP hopes to lower the bar for the assembly's approval of constitutional amendments from the law's 75 percent to a 50 percent simple majority -- its original position before the May 14 National Assembly elections -- and also hopes to exclude invalid ballots from the total number of votes. The statute currently stipulates that ballots cast by assembly members failing to toe their party's line should be considered invalid, but be counted into the total number of votes anyway.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) yesterday threatened to join forces to strike down the DPP's motion to reconsider part of the law, during today's plenary legislative session. The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and Non-partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) also voiced their opposition to the DPP plan.
According to the legislature's rules, lawmakers managing to collect more than 40 signatures can request that the legislature review part or all of a bill that has already been passed. The request must be made during the first plenary legislative session following the passage of the bill, which in this bill's case takes place today.
The legislative speaker is obliged to deal with the request by the end of the day the request is made. The speaker could put the DPP's motion to a full vote, or could put off the motion for discussion at a later time.
Before the bill under re-examination is dealt with by the legislature, it cannot be promulgated by the president. Also, the vote on a measure to reconsider a bill is the last chance to attempt to change a law before it is promulgated.
The director of the DPP's Policy Committee, Ker Chien-ming (
"The reason [for the request] is that the law is flawed," he said, while admitting that the DPP has been pressured by some private groups.
The passage of the legislation reportedly angered former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), who has been pushing the DPP to stand firm on its former stance of a simple majority ratification threshold for constitutional amendments.
The DPP's decision to request a review of the law was jointly made by the party headquarters and the caucus, Ker said.
According to Ker, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) telephoned him Friday after the law passed the legislature to discuss the possibility of filing a request to review some articles of the law. A caucus meeting was also held at noon that day to discuss the matter.
Despite the DPP's appeal to other parties, the KMT and PFP caucuses yesterday did not hesitate to pour cold water on the rival party's proposal.
"We are not a subordinate of the DPP," said KMT caucus whip Chen Chieh (
PFP caucus whip Chen Chih-pin (陳志彬) said that it is meaningless and ineffective to talk with a party which reneges on its promises.
For his part, DPP Legislator Chen Chin-de (
"[Wang] knew that DPP caucus whip Jao Yun-ching (趙永清) did not show up at the cross-party negotiations, nor did he assign any proxy to sign the agreement, but he turned a blind eye to it," he said.
Chen criticized the multiparty negotiation system for leading to oligarchy in the legislature as well as secret meetings, spoils systems and blackmail politics.
"It also results in legislative mayhem ... as well as the formidable power of caucus whips and Wang's dominating role," he said.
In other legislative news, contentious articles in the draft amendments of the Outlying Islands Development Law (離島建設條例) will be put to a vote if no consensus is made during a four-month cross-party negotiation period.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the