Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang dismissed a story in yesterday's Chinese-language United Daily News which said Wang hoped Ma could establish a "constitutional precedent" by delivering an address in the Legislative Yuan after he is sworn in.
When asked for comment, Wang said the legislature would have to find a cross-party consensus before Ma could give an address.
Wang said he was willing to fully cooperate with Ma if he needed to communicate to the legislature through him.
In related developments, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses criticized each other over whether legislative interpellations by the Cabinet should be suspended following the KMT's victory in Saturday's election.
The DPP caucus said yesterday that its members would oppose the KMT caucus' request that the premier continue his regular briefings to the legislature before the new president takes his oath on May 20.
"What they [the KMT] are requesting reflects the fact they want to bully the rest of the legislature," DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
Ker said that the premier's priorities now would be to ensure a smooth transition of power to the new premier.
"This is not the first handover of power. In the past, if that happened, the premier would not have had to brief the legislature before the new president and his government took the oath," Ker said.
"We should maintain that tradition," he said.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) responded by accusing Ker of lying, saying that the legislature does not have such a precedent of suspending the interpellation sessions following a presidential poll.
"The Cabinet is still pushing administrative work [before May 20]. Why does the legislature have to give up its right to question Cabinet officials and help the public supervise the government?" Lin said.
Showing the press copies of a cross-party negotiation document endorsed by Ker and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) Legislator Yen Ching-piao (
"If the KMT caucus had really forced [the DPP and the NPSU to accept the conclusion], why did the DPP sign the document before the KMT?" Lin said.
The document showed that the premier would not be required to attend today's interpellation session, but would be required to report "the Cabinet's principles to deal with important administrative affairs before May 20" to the legislature on Friday.
The interpellation session originally scheduled for next Tuesday would also be suspended, the document showed.
The conclusion, however, is not valid unless the KMT caucus also endorses it.
Upset by what it called the DPP's attempt's to "discredit" the KMT caucus, Lin last night said the KMT would refuse to endorse the agreement and the interpellation session would continue today as originally scheduled.
Meanwhile, Ker and his fellow DPP lawmakers apologized to their supporters during a press conference at the DPP caucus office for the DPP's defeats in January's legislative election and Saturday's election.
Ker said that the DPP would recognize and admit its failures but its members would still stand tall as political opponents to the KMT.
"We shall make sure that [the] president-elect carries out his campaign promises," Ker said.
He said that DPP members would elect a new chairman in May.
But, at the moment, potential candidates shall not be the focus for discussions because what DPP members should do is to figure out what they did wrong and what they need to improve so the public would regain their faith in the party, he said.
"If Frank Hsieh (
"It is more important for us to figure out how to do our jobs well and make sure the KMT is doing the right thing," he said.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS