After the general budget cleared the legislative floor, Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday evening announced that the Cabinet is to resign en masse today.
Lai made the announcement at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei while thanking legislators for passing this year’s budget.
“The general budget has been passed. The time has come,” Lai said.
Photo: CNA
“I will hold an extraordinary Executive Yuan meeting tomorrow [Friday] to proceed with the Cabinet’s mass resignation and patiently wait for the president to announce a new premier,” he told reporters.
He expressed gratitude to Taiwanese for the support they have shown during his time as premier.
Prior to the announcement, Lai was warmly received by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, many of whom hugged him. They later took a photograph together.
“I love you, premier,” several DPP lawmakers shouted.
Earlier, several rounds of votes were held for motions on which consensuses had not been reached during cross-caucus negotiations.
Motions tendered by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to freeze the budget of the Transitional Justice Commission, halve the budget of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee and deny stipends for the Central Election Commission chairman and vice chairman were struck down by the DPP caucus, which has the legislative majority, in votes that stayed close to party lines.
Non-partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), speaking on behalf of the People First Party, cited the Transitional Justice Commission’s “deviation from its course” as a reason to freeze its budget.
The commission should expedite efforts to exonerate people who had been unfairly or unjustly tried during the authoritarian era, but it has so far only acquitted 2,775 out of an estimated 13,400 such people, she said.
By putting forth proposals to replace currency bearing Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) image, the commission has gotten its priorities wrong, she said.
The only motion to suspend stipends that passed was a proposal targeting the Railway Bureau director-general over the Puyuma Express derailment in October last year proposed by the New Power Party (NPP) caucus.
The motion was carried by all four caucuses during negotiations and was passed yesterday without a vote.
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) in a speech criticized the bureau and the Taiwan Railways Administration, saying they repeatedly lied to lawmakers about what technical issues might have caused the derailment.
The families of the victims are still waiting for the truth, he added.
The general budget for fiscal year 2019 is now NT$1.99 trillion (US$64.65 billion) after NT$24 billion, or 1.19 percent, was trimmed.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
RSS