The second motion to recall President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was put onto the legislative agenda yesterday, but a new weapons procurement budget totaling NT$6.3 billion (US$197 million), a revision from the special arms procurement budget blocked since June 2004, was excluded.
The recall motion was proposed by the People First Party (PFP). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will announce its version of the motion later today.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) vowed to push for a recall when he attended the party's legislative caucus meeting in the legislature yesterday.
"It's time to give back the right of referendum to the people. To back the recall motion is to make the referendum procedurally possible, not to depose Chen," he said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) called Ma irresponsible for pushing for a recall drive just a few months after the pan-blue camp failed to get two-thirds of the legislature to support the first recall motion in June.
"It is disrespectful to the Constitution to have a second recall motion. Recalling the president is not child's play. You can't just file a recall motion every few months," Su told KMT Legislator Ho Chih-hui (何智輝) during a question-and-answer session on the legislative floor yesterday.
In response to Ma's comment that the pan-green camp should approve the recall motion so that the public can have a referendum on Chen's competence, the premier said that doing so would only create instability.
The pan-blue dominated Procedure Committee put the PFP recall motion on the agenda.
The legislature will set the recall vote in motion if the proposal passes its first reading on Friday.
During the committee meeting, pan-green legislators lashed out at their pan-blue counterparts, saying that they only cared about "political struggle," referring to their boycotts of other bills.
"We replaced the special arms procurement budget worth NT$480 billion with a new NT$6.3 billion arms bill in this legislative session, but the new version was still rejected," Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Ho Min-hao (何敏豪) cast doubt on Ma's defense of referendums after a TSU proposal to amend the Referendum Law (公投法) was rejected by pan-blue lawmakers.
"The amendment is to reduce the threshold for holding a referendum. If you think that referendum is important, why did you exclude the bill from the agenda?" Ho asked.
DPP legislators said Ma's support for a second recall motion was grandstanding.
DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said it was not necessary for Ma to write each pan-green lawmaker a letter asking for his or her backing.
"I didn't open the letter," he said. "It would be a waste of my time."
DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) said he could not make out what Ma was driving at in his letter.
"I personally respect Mayor Ma, but I plan to throw the letter in the trash can," he said.
Nothing had changed since the legislature voted down the first recall motion, Wang said.
"I have no idea why they want to file the second recall motion now. Can't they wait until the judicial inquiry is complete?" he asked.
Instead of wasting time on a recall motion, Wang said Ma should switch his focus to the KMT's stolen assets.
Wang said the KMT intended to sell a 5,000-ping (18,000m2) plot of land in Banciao this week. Wang said that the public assessment of the land was more than NT$1.2 billion (US$37 million) but the KMT might sell it for NT$8 billion.
Wang called on the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to request an injunction on the planned sale. He also urged Ma to stop the deal.
Wang asked former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who cited alleged corruption to justify his anti-Chen campaign, to apply the same standards to Ma and demand the Taipei mayor's resignation.
Meanwhile, six young DPP employees yesterday called on the governing and opposition parties to respect the judiciary and urged Shih's camp to stop the street protests and be "rational."
Calling themselves the "green six," the group urged the DPP caucus to back the second recall motion or launch an impeachment campaign if Chen or first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) were indicted for corruption.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a