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 (
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the