The KMT plans to hold a preparatory meeting on Friday to discuss the date and agenda for the cross-party consultation meeting it will host on the implementation of resolutions reached at the Economic Development Advisory Council.
The consultation meeting is expected to be held in two weeks.
The KMT said it intends to include a proposal in the meeting's agenda that the DPP government ensure that the majority party in the legislature after the year-end elections be allowed to form a coalition Cabinet.
However, DPP secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) yesterday reiterated, "It's the president's right, enshrined by the Constitution, to appoint the premier."
Echoing Wu's views, secretary general to the president Yu Shyi-kun yesterday said it is still too early to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition government.
"Taiwan doesn't practice the Cabinet system. Even if it did, [the president] wouldn't necessarily be required to empower the majority party in the legislature to form a coalition government," Yu reportedly said yesterday, adding that discussing possible Cabinet reshuffles for February was premature.
Wu also said that he had replied to KMT secretary-general Lin Fong-cheng's (林豐正) invitation to attend Friday's meeting, but said "President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) doesn't necessarily have to attend the inter-party negotiation at all."
In addition to Lin and Wu, likely participants at the meeting will include secretary-general of the People First Party Chung Jung-chi (鍾榮吉), secretary-general of the New Party, Lee Ben-nan (李炳南) and Tsai Hau (蔡豪) and Yeh Hsien-hsiu (葉憲修) from the non-partisan alliances of independent legislators, said KMT spokesman Justin Chou (周守訓).
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2