Despite the opposition-dominated legislature's success yesterday in placing the recall motion on the agenda of the extraordinary session, the ruling party will benefit in the long run, analysts said.
Observers contended that the recall motion was doomed to fail because of high legal threshold required to pass.
A recall motion requires approval from two-thirds of the legislature and a majority of eligible voters in a nationwide referendum to take effect.
Unless a sufficient number of pan-blue lawmakers are willing to jump the fence, analysts speculated that the odds of passing the recall motion are infinitesimal.
"It is like when two brothers are having an argument, and an outsider breaks in. Instead of continuing to fight with each other, they will team up to fight the intruder," said Kuo Cheng-deng (
"The more the pan-blue camp pushes the Chen Shui-bian (
Lii Ding-tzann (
"It is not a smart move for the pan-blue camp to initiate the recall campaign because it compels the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] and its supporters to defend Chen," he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had first rejected the idea of a recall motion, claiming that no evidence had proved that Chen was involved in the spate of corruption scandals plaguing his administration.
Ma, however, later bowed to internal and external pressure and agreed to endorse the recall campaign trumpeted by the KMT's ally, the People First Party (PFP).
Ma was questioned by his supporters in the KMT for being too weak. On the outside, Ma was forced to respond to PFP Chairman James Soong (
"Ma should have known that Soong would grab this golden opportunity to rescue his fading political career by taking drastic moves," Lii said. "A good political leader must not be swayed or even led by such a calculating politician."
Fearing that he might be outshone by Soong, Ma was forced to show his "ferocious side" so party supporters would not think he was too soft.
"He is bound to pay a price for the decision he made under pressure," said Lin Wen-cheng (
If the recall motion passes the legislature, Vice President Annette Lu (
For the sake of political stability and to increase her odds in the next presidential bid, Lin said that Lu must try to obtain the support of the legislature.
It would be a good idea to designate Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Kuo, however, cast doubt on such a combination, saying that Wang would run into the same problem as former premier Tang Fei (
Tang was the only pan-blue official in the line-up and the shortest-serving premier in the nation's history, spending only 137 days in office.
Opponents criticized that such a government would create more political problems and even constitutional disputes than it would resolve.
Kuo argued that Premier Su Tseng-chang (
Lii agreed that Su should stay on, saying that Su's departure would only contribute to political instability.
In addition to re-appointing Su as the premier, Lii said that it is only to the advantage of the DPP and the country for Lu to back Su and ask other DPP members to follow suit.
If the recall motion fails in the legislature, the KMT has threatened to mount a no-confidence vote against Su. If they do this, DPP lawmakers have said that they would propose that Chen call a snap election.
Kuo criticized the KMT for being a "sore loser" and "power-obsessed" if they insist on steamrolling the no-confidence vote.
Lin said that he expects the no-confidence vote to fail due to lack of support among pan-blue, independent and even KMT lawmakers.
Many lawmakers are afraid of losing the election because of a new legislative electoral system, which is bound to cause more controversy if an election is called since the constituency redistricting scheme has not yet been finalized.
Calling the KMT's plan "un-wise," Lii said that the part has got its priorities all wrong because Chen is still in power.
"The job of a responsible opposition party is to oversee the performance of the government and put the interest of the nation before that of the party," he said. "The KMT's plan to boot Premier Su out of office only shows its true intention, which is to seize political power."
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching