The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus would stand with the People First Party (PFP) on deferring a review of the long-delayed arms budget, the KMT said in a press release yesterday.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said last Thursday that the pan-blue camp had agreed to put the weapons budget on the legislative agenda for review today by the Procedure Committee.
The PFP's caucus whips, however, refused to sign a consensus document because they still opposed the arms deal.
The KMT statement said the party agreed with the PFP's view that the budget review should be delayed because reviewing the bill now would impose "unnecessary pressure" on Prosecutor Eric Chen (陳瑞仁) who is investigating the corruption allegations against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus condemned its rival's flip-flop yesterday.
The pan-blue alliance should keep its promise by allowing several proposals initiated by the DPP to be screened, DPP whip Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said. She said that the Executive Yuan had withdrawn its special arms purchase request and replaced it with an annual arms procurement budget in accordance with a petition from the pan-blues.
Yeh said she hoped that pan-blue legislators will put the arms purchase plan and other issues on Procedure Committee's agenda.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique