The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday warned the president against appointing an all Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Cabinet as it reaffirmed its pan-blue ticket for the upcoming legislative speaker race, KMT caucus whip Tseng Yuan-chuan (曾永權) said yesterday.
Tseng also said that President Chen Shui-bian (
He added that should a DPP-only Cabinet be formed, the governing party would have to take full responsibility for any future legislative failures.
"It is the constitutional spirit for the legislative majority to form the government, and if Chen insists on not following the constitution and forms a minority government, that government would certainly fail to smooth over the tension in cross-strait relations. The DPP and Chen would have to be fully responsible for that," Tseng said.
Tseng said that earlier when the KMT recommended Deputy Legislative Speaker Chiang Ping-kun (
Tseng also said a KMT-PFP ticket was emerging in the speakership race, although the ticket would be officially sanctioned only after the two party chairmen met.
According to Tseng, PFP director of policy research Chang Hsien-yao (
"The DPP caucus has been hinting at the possibility of DPP-PFP collaboration, but we can see from what happened with the review of the government's annual budget plan and various bills that the KMT and PFP still remain on cordial terms and work closely with each other," Tseng said.
"The rumors created by the DPP are simply a means to divide the opposition camp," he added.
Meanwhile, the PFP will decide on its candidate for deputy speaker this afternoon by a caucus vote.
Among the three candidates, veteran legislator-at-large Chung Jung-chi (鍾榮吉) is considered most likely to win the candidacy, since his Hakka identity has secured many Hakka PFP lawmakers' support. The party has a large Hakka base of support.
While some party caucuses are continuing debate over the speakership position, others are still showing reservations about who to support.
The Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucuses said they had not yet decided on whom they would support.
TSU caucus whip Huang Tsung-yuan (黃宗源) said that his party would decide what to do about the race at the party's central executive meeting this Thursday.
NPSU caucus whip Yen Ching-piao (
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS