Upset with the decision by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus to delay deliberation on a bill he favored, Legislator Chu Hsing-yu (朱星羽) yesterday announced his withdrawal from the party.
"I proclaim my withdrawal from the DPP now," Chu said yesterday after Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
PHOTO: LO PEI-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Chu, the main advocate for the proposed amendments, declared that "this is the saddest day of my 23-year political life. I need to apologize to President Chen Shui-bian (
"But the decision was based upon my conscience," he said.
The proposed revisions had won endorsement from 163 ruling and opposition lawmakers, Chu said. He said the DPP caucus wanted to block it in order to win votes from the nation's 15,000 tax inspectors.
Chu believes the annual reward system for tax inspectors who have caught tax evaders needs to be revised because the inspectors's excessive checks have interfered with people's lives.
But officials from the Ministry of Finance say the reward system has been institutionalized as part of tax officials' stipends. They said deliberation would be needed to any proposed alterations to the system.
Leaders of the DPP caucus upheld the ministry's view and demanded the revisions be delayed.
Chu's announcement was praised by pan-blue lawmakers, but DPP legislative leaders vowed to hold further discussions with Chu.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS