Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday declined to verify whether two controversial bills — aimed at bringing Chinese students to Taiwan and recognizing Chinese diplomas — had passed a preliminary review, but described legislators’ recent clashes over the bills as “tarnishing democracy.”
Approached for comment at the legislature, Wang urged lawmakers to negotiate the bills rationally during future plenary sessions, adding that he could not condone brawling on the legislative floor.
Wang made the remarks after scuffles broke out during a meeting of the Education and Culture Committee on Monday over proposed amendments to the University Act (大學法) and the Vocational School Act (專科學校法) that would allow Taiwanese schools to recruit Chinese students and recognize Chinese educational credentials.
Monday’s clashes were the second on the legislative floor in less than a week after lawmakers brawled during Wednesday’s session on the same subject.
Lawmakers clashed on Monday as committee staffers were trying to read through the minutes and have legislators confirm that the committee session last week had completed the preliminary review of the two proposals.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) refused to leave the convener’s podium by holding onto Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching’s (蘇震清) thigh, while other DPP legislators rushed to the podium to stop the staffers from reading the minutes.
On the other side of the conference room, DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) chased KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟), shouting “the KMT should be ashamed” as Lu was leaving for the conference room’s lounge.
Lu then pushed Chiu to the ground while Chiu yelled “shame on [President] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)” and “shame on the KMT administration.”
Lu said yesterday he would not apologize over Chiu’s fall unless Chiu apologized for “her inappropriate remarks.
He said he only used “one-tenth” of his strength to “slightly” push Chiu away.
“I didn’t know that she would fall,” Lu said, adding that he might file a defamation lawsuit against Chiu if she fails to offer an apology.
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
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