The first Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Central Standing Committee meeting chaired by president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday affirmed that the new legislative speaker would remain neutral and not be at the whim of the party.
“The legislative speaker will not attend party events, will not hold positions within the party and will not be present in negotiations between political parties,” DPP spokesperson Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄) told a post-meeting press conference.
Specifically, the person holding the position would not attend party events, the DPP Central Standing Committee meetings, national congress meetings, parades and social activism events otherwise hosted by the party and cannot stump for the party nominees in elections, Juan said.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The individual would not hold any position in the party and would refrain from attending bipartisan negotiations in the legislature, or between the legislature and the Executive Yuan, unless their presence is mandated under the Constitution or is otherwise approved by the president, Juan said.
The strict neutrality of the legislative speaker is one of the five political reforms the DPP is aiming for, Juan said, adding that the decreased influence of the party over the legislative speaker would serve to keep the individual clear of party squabbles and guarantee the viability of the political system.
Voters have handed the DPP its first majority in the legislature and the party should live up to public expectations and implement legislative reforms, Juan said.
While Tsai affirmed that she would respect the DPP legislative caucus’ autonomy, she said her focus is not on whom holds the position of legislative speaker, but how the individual could remain neutral.
Meanwhile, Central Standing Committee member Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), a former premier, suggested that the DPP’s caucus should, despite Tsai’s respect for its autonomy, nonetheless discuss who would best suit the position of legislative speaker.
Hsieh said that in the past, the DPP caucus and the committe were parallel organizations, but in light of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) caucus choosing to bow to party will over public opinion, the DPP must look to a new system to avoid repeating those mistakes.
While political commentators point to the alleged support of both the Hsieh faction and the Tsai faction for legislator-at-large-elect Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) to become legislative speaker, Hsieh yesterday said in a Facebook post that he has not committed his support to any individual nor has he expressed such an opinion to the media.
The party should remain unified like it was before the election results and look to implement Tsai’s policies, Hsieh said, adding that any decision reached without negotiation could give the party a bad public image and sour its supporters’ expectations.
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
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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