President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Sunday said that constitutional reform is a bottom-up undertaking that should not be initiated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) without majority public participation.
“One political party by itself is not capable of carrying out such a huge task and we will explore the chances of holding dialogue with other political parties in the next phase,” Tsai said in an interview with the Central News Agency.
Tsai, who is also DPP chairperson, said at the party’s 17th national congress on Sept. 24 that the constitutional reform plan would include issues such as lowering the voting age to 18, codifying human rights and reforming the legislative election system to get rid of unequal vote values and inequitable representation.
Photo: CNA
Asked whether the reform should include a change to a Cabinet or fully presidential system of government, Tsai said she did not want to impose her personal views on the issue at this stage.
Constitutional reform is a task that should be tackled from the bottom to the top to allow participation by the majority of people, she said.
“Carrying out constitutional reform is like making a garment that must fit the person’s needs,” Tsai said. “It is important to have experienced people taking part in the discussions so that the reform will fit Taiwan’s current needs.”
Turning to the issue of the president giving a state of the nation address in the legislature, Tsai said she would not rule out becoming the first Taiwanese president to do so, if it was something the majority of people wanted.
The Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China states that the president can give a state of the nation address in the legislature.
Asked whether the timing of a constitutional reform referendum would be tied to the election cycle, Tsai said she was not thinking along those lines and that it would all depend on how the issue evolved.
Local government elections are to be held next year, while the presidential and legislative elections are due in 2020.
Addressing a controversy over recent comments by newly appointed Premier William Lai (賴清德), Tsai said Lai is fully aware of the government’s overall policy goals and understands very well “what the limits are.”
On Sept. 26, Lai said in his first report to the legislature that he was “a pragmatic supporter of Taiwanese independence.”
“The two sides of the Taiwan Strait are independent of each other, with Taiwan being an independent sovereign state whose official title is the Republic of China,” Lai said in response to lawmakers’ questions about his views on cross-strait issues.
His comments sparked a firestorm at home and drew attention in the international community, including in China and the US, prompting the Presidential Office to issue a statement that the government had not changed its cross-strait policy.
In a follow-up statement on Friday, Lai said that the president was responsible for cross-strait policy and that in his role as premier, he would adhere to Tsai’s policy of maintaining the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS