The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to call a summit with political leaders in a bid to resolve the stalemate over the president's nominees for members of the Control Yuan.
"Whether the political deadlock will be resolved lies in the president's gesture of goodwill," said KMT Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (
"If the president really wants to conduct talks with political leaders, it'd be a good idea to discuss one single issue at a time, such as the confirmation of the president's selections for Control Yuan members," Tseng said.
The review of the nominations has been delayed for more than eight months. The Presidential Office has rejected the pan-blue camp's demand to submit a different nominee list and a letter requesting the legislature conduct a confirmation hearing.
If the president fails to respond positively, Tseng said that his caucus does not rule out the possibility of amending the Organic Law of the Control Yuan (監察院組織法) and the Law Governing Legislators' Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) to compel the president to re-nominate members and raise the legislature's confirmation threshold.
To solve the problem, Tseng said that the long-term plan was to seek constitutional amendments to make the terms of Control Yuan members different rather than uniform. Tseng, however, acknowledged that this would difficult.
Tseng made the remarks yesterday morning after attending a forum jointly organized by a KMT legislator and a People First Party (PFP) legislator to discuss possible solutions to resolve the political impasse.
Citing the example of the US president's nomination of US Supreme Court judges, Su Yeong-chin (
Control Yuan members are mandated by the Constitution to serve for six years.
Chou Yang-san (
He also proposed to amend the Organic Law of the Control Yuan to regulate the composition of Control Yuan members.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
RSS