Lawmakers yesterday passed an amendment to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) that allows the legislature to invite the president to give a state of the nation address at the legislature each year.
The amendment also stipulates that legislators can question the president after the address, while giving the president the option to respond.
In related developments, the legislature also approved a draft statute that would halve the salaries of the president and the vice president.
If approved, the president’s monthly salary will be reduced from NT$822,000 (US$26,700) to NT$462,780, while the vice president’s salary will drop from NT$616,500 to NT$342,800.
Although President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) volunteered to lower their salaries to NT$448,800 and NT$336,600 respectively in 2001, no law has been passed to formalize the pay cuts.
The Cabinet-initiated draft bill passed a preliminary review last Thursday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學璋) said at the time that he supported the legislation, adding that the KMT should not seek to raise president-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) salary since it had previously advocated a cut in Chen and Lu’s pay.
Meanwhile, the KMT caucus said yesterday that it would never agree to a proposal by the DPP caucus that seeks to relieve the president of any legal responsibility should the court find him or her guilty of misusing the “state affairs” fund.
When asked for comment, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said it was obvious that the DPP caucus was trying to help Chen circumvent his liability in the “state affairs” fund case by pushing through the proposal before he hands over power on May 20.
The DPP proposal stipulates that all government chiefs who have asked for reimbursements from their special allowance fund or “state affairs” fund with receipts by May 31 should not be charged with any liability.
The legislature will discuss whether to include the proposal in the plenary session agenda next Friday during the Procedure Committee meeting on Tuesday.
Lin said, however, that the KMT caucus was willing to discuss whether to cancel the liability of other government chiefs.
The legislature also reached an agreement to suspend next Tuesday’s plenary session while scheduling additional committee meetings to review more bills on that day.
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