Amid bickering, delegates of the newly-elected National Assembly yesterday agreed to meet on Monday to start the process of ratifying a constitutional amendment package passed by the legislature last August.
Yesterday's cross-party meeting also settled on the composition of the 11-member steering committee and elected an acting secretary-general, who will be replaced when a formal secretary-general is selected by the full committee.
Although the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) originally nominated Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Minister Yeh Chun-jung (
The committee vote was 6 to 5 in favor of Chien Lin over People First Party (PFP) candidate Edward Chen (
The composition of the committee itself was decided upon by Assembly delegates from 11 parties and civic groups, who agreed to meet on Monday.
Although the National Assembly cannot sit for longer than one month, Chang Ya-chung (
An assembly member will earn about NT$7,000 a day for the month.
Chang's proposal was supported by most parties, including the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which together will occupy more than 80 percent of assembly seats.
Both parties agreed to finish the session as quickly as possible but failed to specify how long this would be.
Taiwan Independence Party delegate Lin Chih-sheng (林志昇), however, opposed making a "hasty decision on such a significant matter."
The parties allocated five of the steering committee's 11 places to the DPP, which secured 127 seats in the 300-member assembly; four to the KMT, which gained 117 seats; one to the TSU for its 21 seats; and one to the PFP for its 18 seats.
The DPP committee members are Senior Presidential Adviser Yeh Chu-lan (
The KMT's members are Chen Chin-jang (
Former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) daughter, Annie Lee (李安妮), was named the TSU's representative, while former Control Yuan member and former member of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬) is the PFP's committee member.
Upset by the fact that the steering committee is dominated by the four political parties, Chen Yuan-chi (
The two parties refused to yield, saying that the composition of the committee was stipulated by law.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS