Although the proposal to recall the president failed to pass, People First Party (PFP) legislators yesterday immediately drafted a motion to topple the Cabinet, with party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) saying they would push for a another recall motion after a new legislature is convened.
"As long as the Cabinet dissolution plan doesn't fail, it is certain that [a second] motion to recall the president will succeed," Soong told people before ending a sit-in outside the legislature.
Soong announced the PFP's three-stage plan: asking President Chen Shui-bian (
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
"Recalling the president will be the sole issue the PFP will campaign on [during the next legislative election]," Soong said.
Soong termed the "three-stage plan" a "bloodless revolution," saying that "I would like to shed my blood for Taiwan if the bloodless revolution fails."
"The failure of the recall motion didn't meet the public's expectation for punishing the corrupt government. We need to convene a new legislature that reflects the most current public opinion," he said.
In accordance with the Constitution, one-third of legislators may initiate a no-confidence vote against the premier.
If approved by a simple majority, the premier must resign from office within 10 days and at the same time may request that the president dissolve the legislature.
PFP caucus whip Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said all 23 PFP legislators -- including Chen Chao-rung (陳朝容) and Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧) who just left the party -- had already signed the no-confidence motion.
"We will seek [support from] other party's legislators to make it an official motion," Lee said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"If such a motion is proposed, we will need a second special legislative session to review it as the current special legislative session will end on Friday," he said.
Meanwhile, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Despite his PFP counterpart's determination to topple the Cabinet, Ma adopted a more moderate tone.
Saying that the KMT would not rule out proposing any of the measures under consideration, Ma said the party needed to "plan before making any moves."
"The KMT must reach a consensus first before seeking agreement with the PFP and independent legislators," Ma said during a press conference at party headquarters.
Ma said the party had set up a team to study a no-confidence vote.
Instead of immediately pushing for a no-confidence vote, Ma said the KMT would continue its nationwide signature drive, which he claimed had attracted more than 1.7 million people to urge Chen to step down.
The KMT would not hold any street protests for the time being, Ma added.
Ma also encouraged prosecutors to continue their investigation into the scandals involving Chen's son-in-law and the first lady.
In addition, the KMT chairman repeated his call for Chen to offer his resignation.
"Please do Taiwan a favor: Know the right thing to do and stop being a liability to the DPP," Ma said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS