The legislature’s Procedure Committee yesterday placed Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang’s (呂學樟) proposal to eliminate benefits accorded the nation’s retired leaders if they “offend the nation’s dignity” on the agenda of the legislature’s new plenary session, which opens next week.
Lu’s proposed amendment to the Act of Courtesy for Former Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) is widely seen as being targeted at former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
He was among the KMT lawmakers who last month castigated Lee, labeling him a “traitor to the Han people,” after the former president gave an interview to a Japanese magazine, which quoted him as saying Japan was once his motherland and claiming that there was no war of resistance against Japan in Taiwan during World War II.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Lu’s amendment seeks to strip former presidents and vice presidents of their retirement benefits in cases of insurrection or foreign aggression “to the extent of hurting national dignity,” even if they have not been found guilty of such a charge, on the condition that the proposal to remove their benefits is proposed by one-third of the lawmakers and approved by at least half of the legislature.”
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Yeh Chin-ling (葉津鈴) criticized the placing of Lu’s amendment on the agenda, saying that the KMT should not engage in political feuds or use legislative amendments to attack an old man.
However, KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said the bill should be listed as long as it has the required number of lawmakers’ signatures and meets all the criteria for submission.
In other news, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) criticized former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) for saying in a speech in China that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) played a role in what Beijing calls the War of Resistance Against Japan.
“There is no doubt that the war of resistance was led by the Republic of China government. There was no KMT army or CCP army. It was simply that the Chinese people as a whole did not want to be slaves,” Soong said.
When asked about PFP Secretary-General Chin Ching-sheng’s (秦金生) alleged attendance at Beijing’s military parade marking the end of World War II on Thursday last week, Soong reiterated that Chin had not attended the parade.
“[Chin] has already made this clear to the public,” Soong said.
The presidential hopeful also denied saying that disciplinary action would be taken against Chin if he was found to have lied about his whereabouts.
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