Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday that the second phase of constitutional reform that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has vowed to pursue -- which he says will create a new constitution suited to Taiwan by 2008 -- will commence as soon as the National Assembly approves a first round of constitutional amendments today.
Su made the remarks yesterday during a tour of Yangmingshan's Chungshan Hall, the meeting place of the National Assembly, to familiarize himself with the voting procedures and exhort DPP delegates to be on time for today's assembly and cast ballots approving the constitutional amendments.
The 300-member assembly, which met for the first time yesterday, is scheduled to vote today on the constitutional amendments passed by the legislature last August. The amendments will halve the size of the legislature and change how it is elected, permanently abolish the National Assembly and make referendums the mechanism for approving future amendments to the Constitution.
Su said the DPP is confident that everything will go smoothly today.
"Although we have 10 delegates on the waiting list and on standby tomorrow in case any delegates are late for the vote, I am confident that none of our 127 delegates will be substituted," Su said.
Committee Needed
As for the contents of the second phase of constitutional reforms, Su said that the president will invite legal experts and elites from each political party to form a committee on constitutional reform.
The committee will discuss how to enhance human-rights protection, streamline government and put the Partnership Treaty between the Aboriginal Peoples and Government of Taiwan into the Constitution.
On the question of whether Chen will attend today's vote, the president of the presidium, DPP delegate Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) said yesterday that the DPP will not file a motion to invite Chen to attend and that Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun will supervise the voting process today on Chen's behalf.
Meanwhile, the DPP assembly caucus yesterday also determined that DPP delegates will not receive any salary for their service at the assembly, and asked the assembly's expense audit panel to make public all its expenditures in order to dispel criticism that delegates are wasting taxpayers' money.
"Many of our delegates, most of whom are professionals, cannot accept media reports that describe them as `greedy and lazy' and only caring about what they are going to eat during their meeting," DPP assembly caucus leader Chen Ta-chun (陳大鈞) said yesterday, asking the press to stop criticizing the delegates and instead focus on the amendments.
Clear Position
The DPP yesterday also canceled its participation in the forum on constitutional reforms held at 2pm.
"The reason why we decided not to attend the forum is because we want to shorten the meeting hours and help the forum proceed more smoothly," DPP caucus whip Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠馨) said. "In fact, there is no regulation in the Statute Governing the Operation of the National Assembly (國大職權行使法) stipulating that a forum or discussion should be held."
Chen Hui-hsin said that the DPP had fully conveyed its opinions on the the constitutional reforms throughout the National Assembly elections. However, in order to respect the small parties' desire to voice their opinions, the DPP did not try to block the forum from taking place.
Early in the day, TSU presidium member Annie Lee (李安妮) resigned from her post to protest the assembly's resolution to pass the amendments as one package. Making a last-ditch gesture of opposition to the constitutional amendments, Lee yesterday afternoon ordered each of the TSU delegates to vote against the amendments and urged DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegates to annotate their ballots even though they approved the amendments.
The constitutional amendments set to be approved today are expected to benefit the larger parties such as the KMT and DPP, but put smaller parties like the TSU at a distinct disadvantage.
Also see stories:
Assembly poised to vote itself into history
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS