President Chen Shui-bian (
Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (
When the pan-blue alliance proposed its recall motion in June, Chen declined to issue a rebuttal statement directly to the legislature, but responded in a public address to the nation.
Chen is not obliged to respond to a recall motion.
The Law Governing Legisla-tors' Exercise of Power (
While no discussion is needed, the legislature must complete the review of the proposal 15 days after the proposal is placed on the legislative agenda. The legislature must notify the government official threatened with a recall to present a written rebuttal seven days before the review. The legislature can still proceed to discuss the case if the official in question refuses to comply.
The consent of two-thirds of lawmakers must be obtained to pass the proposal.
The recall motion must then be put to a referendum and the approval of more than half of all eligible voters must be obtained for it to pass.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun on Monday night invited Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (
The three agreed to recommend that President Chen not issue a statement to defend himself and that DPP lawmakers not attend the review process nor cast their votes.
In a related development, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday suspended their efforts to push through their versions of motions to recall President Chen.
KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), one of the initiators of the party's two versions of the recall motion, said the suspension meant that the party had put its plans for a third recall motion on hold.
But DPP legislators condemned the move as hypocritical.
"As the second recall motion sponsored by the People First Party (PFP) will be put to the vote next Friday, it means nothing for the KMT to put its own recall motions on hold," DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
KMT Policy Coordination Department Executive Director Tseng Yung-chuan (
The procedural committee had its first meeting of the new session yesterday.
Long-stalled bills pertaining to a budget for arms purchases from the US, a review of the president's nominations for the Control Yuan and the position of state public prosecutor-general, and many non-political bills concerned with people's livelihoods were all blocked once more.
According to the committee, about 50 bills sponsored by the Executive Yuan, the DPP and the Taiwan Solidarity Union failed to be put onto the legislative agenda.
"Don't we have bills which are more important than the recall motion to review? A recall motion failed three months ago. Is President Chen a different person from who he was three months ago?" DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (
Tseng said the KMT would not allow the NT$6.2 billion (US$193 million) arms bill to pass through the procedural committee unless its pre-decessor, a bill requesting a NT$480 billion package, is withdrawn.
With regard to the bill pertaining to nominations for the Control Yuan, which has been sidelined since the term of the body's previous members expired in January last year, Tseng said the party would not consider it unless the president came up with new candidates.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Liu Shih-fang (
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS