With pan-green legislators leaving in protest, the pan-blue camp's amendment to re-establish a committee to probe the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on March 19, 2004, was passed by the legislature yesterday.
The amendment, presented jointly by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) caucuses, came in the wake of a constitutional interpretation which said the original statute was unconstitutional.
The amendment to the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例) was passed by a vote, after the legislative caucuses had negotiated the controversial articles a couple of times but failed to reach a consensus.
In accordance with the amendment that was passed, the committee can be established in each term of the legislature and is granted the right of judicial investigation.
In response to the DPP's call to file a request for a constitutional interpretation, KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) urged the DPP not to treat the Council of Grand Justices as a DPP offshoot.
PFP caucus whip Lu Hsieh-chang (呂學樟) said the DPP should not file requests at every juncture.
"The grand justices are not there to serve as a tool of the DPP," he said.
Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the amendment was no different from the original statute which was ruled unconstitutional. He said the government supported the DPP caucus' decision to file for a constitutional interpretation on the amendment.
The DPP legislative caucus was furious at the passage of the amendment, saying the pan-blue camp was attempting to appoint a candidate for state public prosecutor-general that it prefers and turn the 319 Truth Investigation Committee into a "Special Investigation Team," an organ that the pan-blue camp would establish under the Ministry of Justice to be in charge of investigating malfeasance by high-ranking officials.
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
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