The alleged illegality of the National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general sitting in on meetings of the National Police Agency (NPA) and Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau suggests that the nation is in need of a new Republic of China constitution, civic organizations said yesterday.
NSC Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) came under fire from legislators across party lines when he visited the police agency on Wednesday and the Investigation Bureau on Friday.
While lawmakers said that King was overreaching his authority, the council in a statement issued on Sunday evening dismissed allegations that he had violated the Constitution, adding that King would continue making the visits.
The 15 civic groups, which took part in the student-led Sunflower movement occupying the Legislative Yuan in Taipei from March 18 to April 10 in protest against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement, held a press conference in Taipei yesterday for the “Declaration of the New Constitution Movement.”
The declaration said the Sunflower movement highlighted many of the problems in the nation’s constitutional government system, adding that it showed how the government’s sovereign status was called into question and the principle of separation of powers were teetering on the brink of dysfunction.
Taiwan needs to “unfreeze” its Constitution and lower the threshold for constitutional amendments as one of the goals of constitutional government reforms, the declaration said.
The nation needs a new constitution, one in which the common will of Taiwanese is reflected to better implement human rights, realize social democracy, recognize the autonomy of Aborigines, realize “generational justice” by lowering the age requirement for voting and participation in politics and establish a healthy political party system, the groups said.
Despite its amendments, the Constitution cannot truly separate the democratic system from the influence of old institutionalized ways, and only through drafting a new constitution can Taiwanese cement the values of human rights and democracy and establish the nation as a healthy state in East Asia, the declaration said.
Democratic Front Against Cross-Strait Trade in Service Agreement (反黑箱服貿民主陣線) convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the Constitution has gone as far as it can, and the nation truly needs the movement.
Meanwhile, the groups called on political parties to face the constitutional crisis threatening the nation and asked for their support in the reforms.
“The government should not avoid our calls to hold a civil reformation of the constitutional system by calling for a national meeting on the economy, nor should it disregard the will and determination of society to push through political reforms,” the groups said.
The groups called on the public to support their efforts.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS