Amid shouting and physical clashes, the organic bill of the proposed national communications commission (NCC) was left in legislative limbo yesterday, as the pan-green camp staged a rare protest to counter its political rival's habitual opposition to government bills.
The bill will be discussed again in the plenary legislative session on Oct. 11. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Lawmakers across party lines yesterday also agreed to invite Premier Frank Hsieh (
PHOTO: AP
Before adjourning the meeting at 5:36pm, Wang condemned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for seizing and wrecking the speaker's desk and microphone.
"It is every lawmaker's responsibility to safeguard the legislature's dignity," Wang said. "I am sorry to see DPP lawmakers take possession of the speaker's seat and ravage it. I hope all legislative caucuses in the future will exercise more restraint and follow legislative procedures."
The legislature was at a standstill at around 11:25am when People First Party (PFP) Legislator Li Yong-ping (
DPP lawmakers suddenly sprinted to Wang's desk and commandeered his gavel.
They then started pounding Wang's desk with the gavel as well as with agenda books and lawmaker's manuals, while shouting "Dismiss the legislature!" and "The legislature is dead!"
Other DPP lawmakers held placards reading "Safeguard press freedom," "Pan-blue's NCC version is `DCC' [D apparently referring to dirty]" and "Professional and independent commission vs partisan spoiling system."
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers staged a sit-in on the legislative floor, holding banners reading "Fake reform, real seizure-of-power," "Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and PFP suffocate NCC," and "Media future miserable."
The pan-blue camp responded with "Respect the legislature," "Safeguard press freedom" and "One-party control vs multi-party participation."
Instead of calling in security guards to maintain order, Wang ordered a recess and let the two camps continue to vent their grievances.
While the pan-blue alliance was retreating to their seats, a skirmish broke out between Hung and DPP Legislator Yu Jan-daw (
KMT Legislator Pai Tien-chih (
Chuang pulled Liao's hair and knocked off her spectacles, while Liao responded with a hard push.
Chuang was later taken to the nearby National Taiwan University Hospital, but KMT lawmakers blasted Chuang for faking injuries. Determined not to let Chuang get all the media attention, Liao also went to the legislature's medical center for treatment.
Both camps then accused the other of starting the scuffle, and the KMT accused Yu of causing the mayhem under the influence of alcohol. Yu, however, denied the allegation and threatened to file a lawsuit against Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春), who Yu said hit him on the head during the disturbance.
The imbroglio was motivated by the pan-green camp's embarrassing defeat in the showdown, as the pan-blue alliance used its numerical advantage to change the order of nine bills on the agenda.
Frustrated, the DPP walked out of the meeting, while the TSU occupied the podium.
The pan-blue camp voted in favor of pushing forward the PFP's cross-strait peace advancement bill, the condemnation motion against the premier, as well as six other bills, to the plenary legislative session for a second reading, instead of to committee for review. Among them were the draft amendments to the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (
Meanwhile, the pan-blue camp dubbed the Government Information Office (GIO) the government's "political hitman" for running a full-page ad in Chinese-language newspapers that slammed the NCC bill proposed by the pan-blue camp.
Premier Frank Hsieh (
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"I've never seen the GIO do this kind of thing before. I thought it was an advertisement posted by a political party," Ma said after a Taipei City municipal meeting yesterday morning.
Cabinet Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said the opposition parties have been abusing their legislative majority for so long that the GIO ran the ad to help make the public aware both of the government's problems and the irrationality of the opposition parties.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang and Mo Yan-chih
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS