Caucus leaders in the National Assembly yesterday spelled out their opposition to constitutional amendment proposals intended to abolish the Council of Grand Justices or limit the Council's power in interpreting the Constit-ution, just two days after they were introduced.
The proposals, which were first raised by KMT deputy Hsieh Ming-hui (謝明輝) after the Council invalidated two amendments adopted by the Assembly in September 1999, are widely considered a retaliatory measure against the grand justices.
The proposals managed to pass an Assembly review on Sunday, winning 138 and 167 votes respectively.
But the KMT, DPP, New Party and People First Party caucuses yesterday all specified that they were against the proposals, and that they would not allow them to continue.
"If the Council is to be abolished or go through any major adjustments, more in-depth discussion and research needs to be done. It is inappropriate to do it now," said Alex Tsai (
The proposed amendments would still need to go through a confirmation procedure in a plenary session on Friday, to decide whether they can go through second and third readings.
Any amendments must be endorsed by at least three-quarters of the attending deputies to pass second and third readings, and two-thirds of Assembly deputies must be attendance.
In addition to the two proposals, another issue concerning the grand justices that has been raised is whether the office of a grand justice should be permanent in nature.
In what has been criticized by some Assembly deputies as a self-serving step, the Council issued a constitutional interpretation in 1996 to equalize benefits enjoyed by both grand justices and judges.
Under this ruling, the appointment of a grand justice is permanent, and cannot be revoked unless they are convicted on a criminal charge.
The KMT and DPP caucuses, believing that the term of a grand justice should be limited, said they are open to revised proposals on the subject.
"The self-serving ruling was made because the Constitution is unspecific on the terms of grand justices," said Liu I-teh (
"The DPP caucus will not try to stop individual members from supporting the proposal [to limit the term of grand justices] as long as it is not raised in the name of the caucus," Liu said.
The KMT's Hsieh, who initiated the proposal to abolish the Council of Grand Justices, yesterday submitted an additional provision to his original proposal to limit the term of office of a grand justice.
With constitutional reform being recognized as a way to marginalize the Assembly, the marginalization proposal is the only one that has won the support of all caucuses in the Assembly: namely the KMT, DPP, New Party and even People First Party, which had previously expressed disapproval of the proposal.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS