Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday said he is in favor of lowering the threshold for constitutional amendments and the voting age, and suggested that a referendum on whether the Constitution should be amended to replace the current semi-presidential system of government with a parliamentary system be staged alongside next year’s presidential election.
Lee made the remarks in a speech, titled “Constitutional reform is Taiwan’s only way out,” he delivered to the Legislative Yuan Press Club.
Calls from across party lines and from many civic groups for constitutional changes point to a rare opportunity to unite a divided public and put reform into practice, he said.
Photo: CNA
Lee proposed a two-stage reformation process. The first stage should include reducing the threshold for constitutional reform, rectifying the Referendum Act (公民投票法) and lowering the voting age to 18 — among other proposed amendments. A referendum on the draft amendments could then be held to seek public endorsement.
The current threshold for amending the Constitution requires the support of one-quarter of the Legislative Yuan to put forward an amendment, three-quarters of the legislators to attend a meeting to deliberate the proposed amendment and then three-quarters of the attendees to approve the proposal.
If approved by lawmakers, the proposed amendment must be put to a referendum, which requires half of the entire electorate to vote in favor for it to be considered passed.
In terms of changing Taiwan’s government structure, Lee said the number of Legislative Yuan seats must be increased and the legislative electoral system be overhauled, while clear lines of accountability between the president and premier must be drawn.
The president should be entitled to direct national defense and foreign affairs, including cross-strait relations, under the supervision of the legislature, Lee said.
He called for the legislators to pass draft amendments for such reforms in the first half of this year so that the proposals could then be put to a referendum next year to seek a public mandate.
The former president said he would personally facilitate talks between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) after the Lunar New Year holidays, as well as the leaders of other parties, to set out a timetable for constitutional reform.
Chu and Tsai are responsible for laying out specific claims to constitutional reform to bring about new changes, rather than taking advantage of the situation to further their political ambitions, Lee said.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS