Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) may have violated the Referendum Act (公民投票法) through their collaboration in launching a national referendum proposal on the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮), a group of academics and lawmakers said yesterday.
Article 13 of the Referendum Act prohibits the nation’s administrative bodies from carrying out referendums or commissioning other organizations to carry out referendums, lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) told a press conference organized by the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
However, after Jiang on Feb. 25 mentioned in the legislature that the Executive Yuan intended to resolve the dispute over the plant’s construction through a referendum, the KMT caucus followed up by proposing a referendum, which was initiated by KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) and endorsed by more than 30 KMT lawmakers.
“Several civic groups plan to file a lawsuit against Jiang with the Supreme Prosecutors Office’s Special Investigation Division if the referendum proposal is passed in a plenary session of the Legislative Yuan tomorrow,” Huang said.
The KMT filed a similar lawsuit in 2008 against then-premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, accusing Chang of collaborating with then-DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) to hold a referendum on the nation’s bid for UN membership.
The KMT’s move appeared to be a coordinated effort and suggests that the administrative branch would do whatever it takes to complete the construction of the power plant, opposition and anti-nuclear groups said.
They also said that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration is determined to carry on with the construction and that the phrasing of the referendum question was twisted — although the government supports the construction of the power plant, the referendum would ask the public whether or not the construction should be halted.
“The passage of the referendum would put the legislature to shame as KMT legislators would have become puppets of their political party,” said DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who was among a group of DPP lawmakers demanding the Control Yuan investigate whether Jiang’s suggestion had violated the law.
As the dispute over the referendum has snowballed and there is no clear resolution in sight, Cheng said the fate of the plant’s construction should be first voted on in the legislature and then put to a national referendum.
Aletheia University assistant law professor Wu Chin-ching (吳景欽) said that a lawsuit would not bring substantial results under the current judicial system, which could simply dismiss the case, and said that filing a civil lawsuit could be a better option.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
RSS