The political struggle stirred up by the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant dispute is unlikely to end with the issuance of a constitutional interpretation, analysts predicted yesterday.
New Party Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
"If the interpretation is so vague that all sides can claim victory, I will feel sorry for the nation," Lai said.
The Council of Grand Justices is set to issue its interpretation of the dispute tomorrow.
A preliminary ruling made by the majority of Grand Justices on Friday stated that the Executive Yuan's decision to scrap the project was a major constitutional issue, and the Executive Yuan should have obtained the Legislative Yuan's approval before making the policy change.
While political instability will continue until the legislative election at the end of this year, it will not end unless President Chen Shui-bian (
It is widely believed that none of the political parties will seize over 50 percent of legislative seats at the next election.
"A Cabinet that isn't supported by over 50 percent of lawmakers is bound to be unstable," Lai said.
With speculation that the issuance of a constitutional interpretation may lead to the replacement of Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and a government reshuffle, Chen spelled out his support for Chang's Cabinet on Friday. Chen said he has not considered forming a coalition government. Chang has not indicated he will step down.
Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬), a former DPP Control Yuan member, criticized Chen and Chang for being irresponsible. He said even if the Grand Justices' interpretation does not specify the Executive Yuan's decision was unconstitutional, Chang should step down to mollify the opposition.
Yeh said the incident was an opportunity to examine Taiwan's constitutional system -- whether it is a presidential or semi-presidential system.
Yeh also said if it is a presidential system, Chen should step down to take the responsibility for the improper way the decision to scrap the plant was made. If it is a semi-presidential system, then the premier should step down. "The attitudes of the president and the premier show that they don't intend to take any responsibility, and are treating the Constitution like a toy," Yeh said.
The opposition-controlled legislature has made Chang a persona non grata and refused to let him attend Legislative Yuan sittings since Chang announced the government's decision to scrap the power plant project on Oct. 27. The legislature has also requested the Control Yuan impeach Chang over what it claims was an unconstitutional decision.
Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
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China used fake LinkedIn profiles to harvest sensitive data from NATO and EU institutions by soliciting information from staff, a European security source said on Friday. The operation, allegedly orchestrated by the Chinese Ministry of State Security, targeted dozens of employees at the military alliance or EU organizations through fictitious accounts, the source said, confirming reports in French and Belgian media. Posing as recruiters on the online professional networking platform, Chinese spies would initially request paid reports before later soliciting non-public or even classified information. One particularly active fake profile used the name “Kevin Zhang,” claiming to be the head
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