The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday voted down the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ motion to give a second reading to a bill to amend the Referendum Act (公民投票法), proposed by a KMT lawmaker who said his version is based on a previous proposal by the DPP.
KMT legislative caucus convener Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) yesterday morning said that the KMT would propose to give the bill a second reading, adding that the party had to seek alternatives due to the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee dragging its feet.
Sufin said that if the bill was passed yesterday, a referendum on lifting the ban on imports of food products produced in Japanese prefectures surrounding the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant could be held in the second half of next year.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The announcement came after KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) launched a campaign calling for a referendum to ask the public whether it supports a proposal to ease the nation’s ban on imports from the five Japanese prefectures.
The government had been rumored to consider lifting the bans on food imports from Fukushima Prefecture, reportedly due to political pressure.
The proposed amendment, motioned by KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰), seeks to lower the signature threshold from 0.5 percent to 0.01 percent of the electorate to initiate a referendum proposal, lower the threshold to put a referendum proposal to a vote from 5 percent to 1 percent of the electorate and deciding on the outcome of the vote by a simple majority among more than a quarter of the electorate.
The lowering of the thresholds has also been the DPP’s and the New Power Party’s aim, but Fai’s version also proposes to have a referendum proposal initiated with the signatures of at least a quarter of the 113 lawmakers, which could be achieved with the KMT’s 35 seats at the legislature.
The DPP and the People First Party (PFP) legislative caucuses both voted down the KMT’s proposal.
DPP legislative caucus whip Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said that the party, while in favor of lowering the referendum threshold, wanted the draft amendments to be reviewed by the committee first.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said “a quarter of lawmakers” means the KMT caucus, which is less than one-third of the total, would be able to initiate a referendum proposal whenever it wants, “which would only give way to chaos.”
PFP legislative caucus convener Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said the party is against the proposal, as lowering the threshold would make referendums easy to hold and could lead to a waste of public resources as well as hampering governmental efficiency.
Committee convener Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said the committee had made plans to review the draft amendments this month at the latest, adding that the DPP should not put emphasis on the KMT’s proposal.
It is probably a side effect of the KMT’s infighting over the party chairperson election in July next year, Chao said.
Additional Reporting by Alison Hsiao
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS