Legislators engaged in physical and verbal clashes during the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee meeting yesterday as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators continued their criticism of Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊).
Ou was to make his first appearance at the legislature, where, according to the agenda, he was to unveil policy plans.
But DPP legislators blocked Ou from making his presentation, while criticizing him for once having permanent resident status in the US and for failings in handling the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) incident earlier this month.
PHOTO: CNA
The lawmakers have been up in arms since it was revealed that Ou had obtained US permanent resident status in 2005 when he was Taiwan’s ambassador to Guatemala. He only renounced the status one month before assuming his ministerial position on May 20. The matter has been used to question his loyalty to the nation.
Ou’s handling of the Diaoyutai incident, in which a Taiwanese fishing boat collided with a Japanese patrol vessel and sank in waters near the disputed islands, was also a focus of criticism. Ou berated the nation’s former representative to Japan, Koh Se-kai (許世楷), for his handling of the issue and asked him to report to the legislature, a request that Koh has rejected.
As DPP legislators continued to denounce Ou and blocked him from reaching the podium, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) made a motion to end the meeting, which was quickly passed as the KMT holds a majority in the committee.
DPP lawmakers then attempted to stop Ou from leaving the meeting.
“Ou, step down!” “You’re a runaway minister!” and “Get out and never come back!” DPP legislators shouted as they surrounded Ou.
KMT legislators eventually came to Ou’s rescue and escorted him out of the building with help from legislative police officers.
The DPP caucus later continued its condemnation of Ou at a press conference and asked him to apologize and step down.
“We hereby ask the KMT and Ou to apologize to the public and that Ou step down,” DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said.
“Unlike other Cabinet members, Ou did not brief us as soon as he took office. This was a humiliation to us as lawmakers,” Lai said. “In addition, the KMT helped him escape censure by taking advantage of its majority to cut short the legislative meeting. The KMT owes us an apology for this, too.”
Lai said that Ou had yet to provide clarifications on his green card situation. In addition, he avoided his responsibilities during the Diaoyutai incident and never responded to lawmakers’ requests for a briefing, as a minister is supposed to, Lai said.
“We were simply enforcing our right to ask a Cabinet member to do his job. Ou failed to fulfill that request. That is why we are unhappy,” Lai said.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) later complained that the DPP used “double standards” by allowing Koh to shun legislative questioning, while creating difficulties for Ou.
“Koh is the one who ran away, not Ou,” Lin said, adding that the DPP should apologize to Ou and the nation.
KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said the DPP had obstructed procedures and should be reminded of the need to behave reasonably.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said the DPP had used procedural matters to paralyze the proceedings of the meeting and to insult government officials. He said their behavior was in violation of Article 58 of the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Yuan (立法院議事規則).
Additional reporting by CNA
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
‘REALLY PROUD’: Nvidia would not be possible without Taiwan, Huang said, adding that TSMC would be increasing its capacity by 100 percent Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday praised and lightly cajoled his major Taiwanese suppliers to produce more to help power strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), capping a visit to the country of his birth, where he has been mobbed by adoring fans at every step. Speaking at an impromptu press conference in the rain outside a Taipei restaurant, where he had hosted suppliers for a “trillion-dollar dinner,” named after the market capitalization of those firms attending, Huang said this would be another good year for business. “TSMC needs to work very hard this year because I need a lot
RSS