With no solution in sight to disputes over controversial bills, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that he was considering erecting a bulletproof shield around the speaker's dais.
Wang made the remark after meeting with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus, which demanded he call in the police to restore order whenever lawmakers stage a protest that paralyzes proceedings.
There have been repeated brawls recently as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) tried to block a vote on a KMT bill to amend the Organic Law of the Central Election Commission (
The KMT proposal would give the pan-blue camp a majority in the commission, replacing the current system under which its members are designated by the premier.
"Some have suggested erecting a barrier around the dais, such as the bulletproof glass that has been used when the president delivered speeches. We should think about it," Wang said.
However, he insisted he would never use the police to maintain peace in the legislature.
"Resorting to police force will not resolve problems, and by law I am not entitled to call in the police," he said.
KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (
"It's not the lawmakers' duty to protect the speaker; it is the responsibility of the speaker to ensure legislative proceedings go smoothly," Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said.
But Wang told reporters: "If someone would like to take on the heavy responsibility [of presiding over the legislature], I can give my seat to him."
"Without the authorization of law, having the speaker call in the police would be a serious assault on democracy," he said.
Yesterday's legislative plenary session was halted because no progress was made in settling disagreements over the commission amendment between the pan-blue and the pan-green camps.
DPP caucus whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) said his party would like to discuss the KMT's proposal -- provided the pan-blues agreed to put the issue of holding a referendum in tandem with the presidential election on the table.
The DPP is proposing amending the Referendum Law (
As for whether the KMT would join the People First Party if it made a no-confidence bid against Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said his party was contemplating the issue.
"There are sufficient reasons to topple Chang because his performance when he was premier before was very poor. Whether we would take action depends on Chang's attitudes on the controversial bills," he said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
"The KMT is in low spirits now and may join the PFP to initiate a no-confidence vote in a bid to resolve its internal problems," he said. "But the pan-blue camp should explain the legitimacy of such a vote to the public."
Meanwhile, by law the premier has to brief the legislature on his administration's policy within two weeks of his inauguration and answer questions from lawmakers.
No date for Chang's speech has yet been set. Caucus whips held a cross-party meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss a date but did not reach a decision. They did decide, however, to extend the current legislative session -- which was due to expire on May 31 -- to June 15.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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