The opening day of the new legislative session on Tuesday is expected to attract far more attention than previous opening days with the public focusing on Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) amid the political feuding within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Embroiled in one of the most fierce political controversies in recent memory, in which the KMT tried to remove him from the legislature for alleged illegal lobbying, Wang convened a party negotiation yesterday morning to discuss Jiang’s scheduled report to the legislature.
Party caucuses reached a consensus that Jiang would be invited to deliver a report — a traditional practice for every new legislative session — on Tuesday.
Wang’s presence at the negotiations was in question after his party membership was revoked by the KMT’s Central Evaluation and Discipline Committee on Wednesday.
According to the KMT, that meant Wang immediately lost his position as a legislator–at-large and therefore the speakership.
The 72-year-old, who was awaiting a final ruling from the Taipei District Court on his appeal to retain KMT membership, insisted that he was still speaker.
“I’m going to do my job as long as I am still the legislative speaker,” Wang told reporters in the morning.
Jiang stepped into the controversy, which has been widely seen as a well-planned vendetta by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) when he echoed Ma’s condemnation of Wang’s alleged illegal lobbying and said last week that Wang “was no longer competent for the legislative speaker position” and “we are ready for a Legislative Yuan without speaker Wang.”
Jiang’s comments have drawn strong criticism and accusations that he is contemptuous of the legislative branch and has breached the principle of the separation of powers as stipulated by the Constitution.
The premier is expected to face a difficult situation when he delivers a report to a legislative plenary session chaired by Wang rather than Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who is said to be Ma’s preferred candidate to succeed Wang as speaker, after the Taipei District Court upheld Wang’s provisional injunction against the KMT.
The ruling means that Wang would still be speaker when the new session begins on Tuesday.
The KMT notified the Central Election Committee (CEC) right after the announcement that Wang’s party membership had been revoked, as the committee subsequently asked the legislature to void Wang’s position, a procedure that would officially oust him from the legislature.
However, the Legislative Yuan Secretariat has not completed that procedure.
Opposition party caucuses support Wang staying on, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) saying that a speaker should be unseated by lawmakers rather than a political party.
Wang would hold the speakership until his KMT membership is nullified by a court in future rulings, Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus whip Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said.
“If Jiang makes his report to the legislature as scheduled, it means the premier endorses Wang’s position as speaker,” Hsu added.
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
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
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
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