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 (
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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