The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) plan to evaluate members' performance by their attendance in legislative committee meetings provoked the ire of several legislators from the south yesterday.
"[The party headquarters has] once again put more emphasis on northern Taiwan, which is very unfair to legislators from southern Taiwan," said KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (
Ho said she had to take the high speed rail at 6:36am to make it to the 9am legislative committee meeting every morning.
She said she would not be able to attend to the needs of residents in her electoral district if the party headquarters focuses on legislators' attendance.
"We [legislators from southern Taiwan] will not be able to attend activities that take place in the morning," she said.
Ho's complaint came after a report in yesterday's Chinese-language United Daily News said the KMT headquarters was planning to improve the party caucus' image by introducing stricter regulations for its legislators.
KMT legislators whose attendance record ranked in the bottom 10 of the legislature's 113 lawmakers would lose the party's nomination in the next legislative election, the report said.
KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (
KMT Legislator Chung Shao-ho (
"We are all grown-ups. Every legislator should be able to exercise self-control and self-determination. We don't need this kind of regulation," he said when asked for comment.
In contrast, KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) from Taichung City gave the party credit for its effort to improve the image of the caucus.
"I'm glad the KMT is taking the initiative to consider this issue. No matter what, we should overcome all difficulties to find a common ground," she said.
Meanwhile, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said the party's streamlining plan would continue.
But he dismissed media speculation that the party would move its headquarters, currently on Bade Road, to the KMT think tank, the National Policy Foundation, on Hangzhou S Road.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their