Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) and Chen Ken-te (陳根德) said they were considering suing Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) after the group released lawmakers’ attendance records and accused the two of being late to meetings.
“According to the Legislative Yuan’s own regulations, legislators are supposed to be in meetings from 9am to 6pm,” CCW executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) told a news conference at the group’s headquarters in Taipei yesterday. “But records show that the average general assembly meeting only lasts 5.9 hours, while committee meetings in February and March were on average 3.1 hours long.”
Aside from adjourning meetings early, delays are also a key factor behind the shorter meeting times, the group said.
“The Education and Culture Committee has the best record with only a 3.2-minute delay on average, while the Transportation Committee has the worst, with an average delay of 28 minutes,” Ho said.
The Sanitation and Environment Committee, as well as Social Welfare Committee, were the next worst offenders, with an average delay of 9.25 minutes, Ho said.
Chen and Chung, conveners of the Transportation Committee and the Sanitation and Environment Committee respectively, expressed their anger when approached by reporters for comment.
“It’s immoral to release information like this,” Chung said. “They’re just making false accusations against us without knowing how hard we work.”
Chung said he would work to put CCW on a list of “unwelcome” groups at the legislature. Chen, on the other hand, accused the group of giving out false information.
“They said that I was 114 minutes late to a [committee] meeting [that started at 9am] — it’s not true,” Chen said. “I was in a classified meeting at 9am sharp, that’s why they couldn’t find it in the records.”
Both lawmakers said they were considering filing lawsuits against CCW if the group did not apologize.
“Legislative transparency is a global trend and the doors of the legislature should be open to all people,” a CCW statement said in response later yesterday. “The threats to put CCW on the ‘unwelcome’ list … just shows that some lawmakers lack the common sense desired in a democracy.”
‘VIRUS DIPLOMACY’: The nation’s expertise in handling COVID-19 was among the reasons that it should not be excluded from the WHO, the European Parliament said The European Parliament this week passed resolutions that support Taiwan’s bid to participate in the WHO and its intention to negotiate a trade pact with Taiwan. During its plenary session from Monday to Thursday, the parliament approved resolutions on the foreign policy consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and the EU’s trade policy, parts of which were viewed as friendly toward Taiwan by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a statement yesterday, the ministry welcomed the passage of the resolutions and thanked the parliament for its support for Taiwan. In the first resolution, the parliament cited Beijing’s increasing threats to Taiwan, the crackdown on
The gig began with a nun chanting on stage, but suddenly erupted into a wall of noise unleashed by distorted guitars and screamed sutras — the unique sound of Taiwan’s first Buddhist death metal band. The nation has a vibrant metal scene, but few outfits are quite as eye-catching as Dharma (達摩樂隊), a band that aims to deliver enlightenment via the medium of throaty eight-string guitars and guttural roars. Dressed in robes — black, of course — they use traditional Sanskrit sutras as lyrics, but everything else screams death metal, from bloody face paint on stage to growled vocals, relentless riffs and
LOOPHOLES: The people behind biased media content produced by a Chinese network, likely without sending staff to Taiwan, remain anonymous, a source said Beijing’s latest attempt at psychological warfare through heavily biased online media is aimed at sowing discord and polarizing Taiwanese society, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. The council’s comment came in response to Chinese network Southeast Television, which late last month began broadcasting an online program featuring commentary by Taiwanese unification supporters that authorities suspect was filmed illegally in Taiwan. To circumvent cross-strait regulations, the broadcaster collaborated with online service provider Baidu to air the series titles Diverse Voices From the Taiwan Strait (台海百家說). Only Taiwanese are shown on camera, without revealing the host, interviewer or production team. In one video, political commentator and
SUPPRESSION: Michael Tsai, a former defense minister, said that Beijing’s list of Taiwan independence advocates contravenes the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights The best way to respond to threats from China against Taiwan independence advocates is for the president to publicly reiterate Taiwan’s sovereignty, former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said on Sunday. Chinese media on Nov. 15 said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was compiling “a list of stubborn Taiwanese separatists and will severely punish them in accordance with [China’s] Anti-Secession Law and hold them accountable for their actions for the rest of their lives.” Chinese media subsequently accused Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of being a “first-rate war criminal,” because of his policy on mask exports. “The vast majority
RSS