The pan-blue camp yesterday continued to exert pressure on the government to take responsibility for the recent string of allegations about irregularities involving government officials and the president's in-laws.
The People First Party (PFP) plans to lead a protest rally today to demand that President Chen Shui-bian (
Although Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said that the KMT would not attend the rally, KMT legislators Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and Chiu Yi (邱毅) have signed up.
"Discontent among the people about the government scandals is boiling. We urge all political parties to come forward to demand the president's resignation," PFP Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生) told a press conference yesterday.
Chin said that the rally was scheduled to start at 2pm in front of the Presidential Office in Ketagelan Boulevard, and end at 5pm.
However, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that the PFP might not end the rally on schedule.
"We have learned that the PFP wants to keep a mass of people in Ketagelan Boulevard for several days, just like the pan-blue camp had done in the days after the 2004 presidential election to protest the election result," Hsu said.
While the KMT has said the time was not ripe to recall the president, the party seems to be preparing to launch a campaign demanding the resignation of Cabinet members.
After a meeting with Ma yesterday, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said that the recall motion signed by 111 pan-blue legislators would be held back for the moment. Wang said he doubted the feasibility of launching a campaign in the legislature calling for the Cabinet's resignation.
He said that the nation's political system might fall into a chaos if the president were to be forced to dismiss the legislature, because the drawing up of boundaries for the new election system has not yet been completed.
At a separate event yesterday, Wang called on the president to let the majority in the legislature form a new Cabinet in accordance with the Constitution.
"I hope the president will abide by the spirit of the Constitution, which stipulates that the Cabinet should be formed by the majority party in the legislature," he said.
also see story:
Editorial: Ma Ying-jeou needs Chen in office
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai