Post-election politicking has become even stranger as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the People First Party (PFP) flirt with one another and the PFP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) struggle over a number of issues, including who will receive blue-camp support in the race for legislative speaker.
The DPP-PFP dalliance was confirmed yesterday but ended in failure, for now. The draft Disposition of Assets Improperly Obtained by Political Parties bill, which the DPP caucus earlier claimed had received PFP caucus support, again failed to pass the Procedure Committee.
According to sources in the DPP and PFP caucuses, the parties had reached agreement to have the draft law approved by the Procedure Committee for consideration by legislative committees.
Were it not for a verbal slip by DPP caucus whip Lee Chun-yee (
"The PFP caucus is seeking to work with the DPP caucus on the bill," Lee had said. "The PFP originally supported the law, but since it had agreed to cooperate with the KMT, it could not support the legislation. But now the KMT-PFP alliance has come to an end, and the PFP wants to walk its own way, so it may want to start afresh from here."
But Lee had spoken too soon.
After the slip was broadcast on TV, the KMT caucus began applying pressure on the PFP caucus prior to the committee hearing. The PFP caucus then decided to change its mind and block the bill's passage in the committee.
But the story may not end there. The PFP yesterday said that as soon as the word "improperly" was removed from the title of the draft, it would be willing to support the bill.
"Party assets are not only a burden for the KMT, but also one which the PFP cannot put aside," PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said.
"The PFP caucus will support the passage of the draft law from the Procedure Committee if the DPP is willing to take `improperly' out of the title, since we should not adopt preconceived positions over it," Liu said.
In better news for the government, the legislature yesterday agreed for the special NT$500 billion budget for public infrastructure projects over the next five years to be delivered to legislative committees for review, after the legislature heard a report from Premier Yu Shyi-kun.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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