The legislature yesterday unanimously supported the Executive Yuan’s veto of a controversial amendment to the Accounting Act (會計法) on the first day of a two-week extra session, temporarily snuffing a political firestorm.
A vote of 110 to zero means that the amendment, which would have exempted city and county councilors from charges of misusing public funds and released hundreds of academics from probes into their use of receipts to claim government funds, will be nullified.
Three of the 113 lawmakers did not vote yesterday afternoon, including Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who is visiting China, independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恆), who decided not to vote because the amendment could have exonerated his father, Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), an imprisoned former lawmaker.
Photo: CNA
The vote, at least for now, puts to rest one of the biggest legislative controversies of recent years after the public condemned the nation’s political parties for their “late-night secret deal” on the final day of the previous legislative session, when opposition parties, which favored the decriminalization of academics, collaborated with the KMT, which had an eye on getting Yen out of prison, in closed-door cross-party negotiations.
With its majority, the KMT dominated a morning vote on the agenda for the extra session.
Notable items among the 49 proposals included an amendment to the Income Tax Act (所得稅法), related to the controversial capital gains tax on securities transactions, and legislation related to the 12-year compulsory education system, pension reform and a national referendum on the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市).
The KMT also agreed to place proposals by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) on legislation against monopolization in the media on the agenda.
However, the DPP’s “three anti-nuclear bills,” which are proposed amendments regarding the promotion of a nuclear-free homeland (非核家園推動法), and to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Control Act (核子反應器設施管制法) and the Referendum Act (公投法), failed to make the list, despite them being supported by the TSU and the People First Party.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) is scheduled to report to the legislature today on the 12-year compulsory education system, another disputed policy that could spur heated debate.
The controversial proposal for a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is scheduled for the latter part of the extra session, which concludes on June 27, KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report
RSS