The legislative caucus of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) threatened the Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday with "freezing" or "crossing out" its entire budget for next year if it continues to promote a national referendum on the KMT's stolen assets.
Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan, KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said the Executive Yuan's Referendum Review Committee vetoed a proposal filed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to hold a referendum on whether the KMT should return its stolen assets to the national coffers, but the Petition Committee, also under the Executive Yuan, ruled the proposal legitimate.
Hung rebutted Premier Su Tseng-chang's (蘇貞昌) claim that the Petition Committee's decision was "unquestionable" and DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun's remarks that it was up to the Executive Yuan to decide whether to hold the referendum. He added that the KMT caucus would not rule out freezing all budgets for the CEC and other relevant government agencies.
She also said that the KMT caucus would seek a constitutional interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices or lodge an administrative lawsuit via the Referendum Review Committee.
KMT Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) said that if the CEC still insisted on a referendum, the party would launch a national campaign to force the DPP to return national assets which he claimed have been disposed of by the DPP over the past six years.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS