Calling the Cabinet’s overall performance “intolerable,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it intended to propose a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet on the first day of the new legislative session today, despite a government announcement that it would suspend an electricity price increase planned for December.
The DPP is looking at the proposal from a broader perspective and its move constitutes “an attempt to hold the Cabinet accountable for its poor performance and — most importantly — an effort to avoid a constitutional crisis because it was President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), rather than Premier Sean Chen (陳冲), who had dominated every aspect of policymaking,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said after a caucus meeting.
While the Constitution of the Republic of China stipulates that “the Executive Yuan shall be the highest administrative organ of the State,” it had been Ma who had been deciding on policies and government personnel, not Chen, Ker said.
“[The motion] is not a power struggle between the pan-green and the pan-blue camps. Instead, it is a showdown between the people’s voice and Ma’s authority,” Ker said.
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) attended the meeting and endorsed the motion, saying: “Taiwan’s economy can be saved only by replacing the current Cabinet because the administration is clueless and taken the country down the wrong path.”
The Chen-led Cabinet, which has previously boasted that it is an “economic Cabinet” that understands what is needed to revive the stagnant economy, has disappointed the public, Su said.
The Executive Yuan’s announcement of the suspension of a planned second-stage electricity price increase is likely “a political measure to placate the DPP’s no-confidence motion,” DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said.
Pan said the government decided to postpone the planned hike until October next year rather than cancel it altogether, which means that the plan could be suddenly reinstated if the recent third round of quantitative easing announced by the US Federal Reserve stirs up global inflation.
The DPP knows that the vote against the premier might fail to pass.
While collecting the required signatures of more than one-third of the total number of legislators to submit the proposal would be easy, the hard part will be ensuring that at least half the lawmakers vote to allow the proposal to pass.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controls 64 of the 113 seats in the legislature. The DPP currently has 40 seats.
“We think proposing the vote of no confidence is imperative. If it fails to pass, that means the KMT values its party position and benefits more than people’s voice,” DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
According to Article 3 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, 72 hours after a no-confidence motion is proposed, an open-ballot vote must be held within 48 hours.
As the second legislative session of the eighth Legislative Yuan begins today, the open-ballot vote would have to take place no later than Saturday.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost