In what appears to be a move aimed at damage control after the National Assembly's vote to extend its term by two years until June 2002, DPP heavyweights declared yesterday that their party's deputies should abandon their statutory rights to salaries after their original term ends in May 2000.
Leaders from three major party factions reached a consensus during weekend talks, and say they will present the plan to the party's weekly Central Standing Committee on Wednesday.
The assembly passed an amendment by two major parties to extend terms of delegates and legislators as well as add the full proportional representative system for the next assembly, introduced by DPP assembly caucus leader Law I-teh (
After the vote, many DPP deputies have been bombarded with complaints from constituents, asking why the DPP supported the term extension amendment, and blaming the party for betraying the party's reform image.
"We have to prove that DPP assembly delegates only wanted to carry out assembly reform, and not because they wished to benefit themselves," said Wu Nai-jen (
Wu also stressed that the party should clarify its position to allow people to understand what DPP deputies would actually do during the extended term.
New Era faction head Chen Zau-nan (
The party's presidential candidate, meanwhile, Chen Shui-bian (
"If President Lee is really willing to drive constitutional reform, he can carry out the task. I suggest a plebiscite be held along with the presidential election next March 18," said Chen.
Chen's spokesman, Lo Wen-chia (
Members of the Justice alliance faction, established by Chen in 1993, also stressed they would join the action to save the party's reformist image.
"All Justice Alliance delegates will give people our resolute promise to accomplish the parliament reform. And even legislators of my Faction, at least me and Sheng Fu-hsiung (
Members of the DPP's legislative caucus, meanwhile, said yesterday they planned to follow the advice of its current head, Chang Chun-hung (
Chang advocates that the Central Standing Committee should only encourage Assembly deputies to abandon their salary rights, but not to force them to accept it.
"They really contributed to the reform process. Therefore the party should reward them instead of punishing them," Chang said.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new