The Legislative Yuan yesterday confirmed its list of conveners for the 12 standing committees this session, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) dominating with 13 of the 36 seats up for grabs.
Seats are allocated based on the proportion of seats each party holds in the 223-seat legislature.
The DPP will convene each legislative committee and gained an additional seat on the Science, Technology and Information Committee.
The 36 convenerships were decided yesterday according to an inter-party consensus.
Independent Legislator Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴), who was seeking a seat on the Judiciary Committee, criticized the selection process, saying the interests of independent legislators were ignored.
"The minority voice at the legislature needs to be respected, although the principle of obeying the majority decision should be emphasized," said Su, a former convener of the Judiciary Committee.
"The protest was made to remind the major parties that conveners should be selected through a vote rather than private negotiations," Su said.
"The point is that the conveners were determined by a fair election [thanks to the protest]," he said after losing his bid for a second convenership.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) obtained convenerships in 10 legislative committees.
Its pan-blue counterpart, the People First Party (PFP), obtained convenerships in eight committees.
The 12-member Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) won three seats after negotiations.
The TSU last week complained about its inferior position in the convenership negotiation and demanded that conveners of the most popular committees -- such as budget, economy, health and environment -- be appointed on a rotational basis.
The nine-person "Independent Alliance" won convenership in two legislative committees, one less than in the previous legislative session. They gave up the convenership post in exchange for the advancement of three Aboriginal-related bills.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai