The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) announced yesterday that the pan-blue alliance would stop boycotting Premier Frank Hsieh's (
"The ball is in the DPP's court now," said Tseng Yung-chuan (
Tseng said that they hope that the DPP would now take steps towards easing the deadlock between itself and the opposition parties.
According to Tseng, the KMT has already established a fourteen person decision-making commit-tee, and meetings would be held starting today to discuss strategies to be used against the DPP at the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan meetings this week.
The KMT and DPP are also meeting today to discuss the details of Premier Hsieh's report.
Tseng said that all the pan-blue alliance was requesting was the five commissions of inquiry, but the DPP had proposed three other additional commissions, including a commission on corruption, a commission on the investigation of unused property and a commission on pollution, indicating that they were not sincere in wanting to resolve the problems between the two parties.
The pan-blue camp proposed the establishment of the five commissions because they lack executive power as the opposition, but the governing party can hold investigations and inquiries at any time it wishes, Tseng said.
Tseng said that the KMT was willing to apologize to Hsieh and hoped that the DPP would respond sincerely.
People First Party (PFP) caucus whip Sun Ta-chien (
DPP Legislator Tang Huo-shen (
Tang continued that although the PFP has the right to scrutinize the bill, it cannot keep blocking it just for the sake of opposing the governing party. The bill should at least have the chance to be reviewed by the legislature's National Defense Committee, he said.
According to Sun, the PFP is not against the arms purchase, but against what it deems a waste of money. The PFP will keep opposing the bill regardless of what President Chen had said, he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it