The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has criticized Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) dismissal of a shift to a parliamentary system of government, saying that she was once in favor of such a change and that her opposition now might be a political ploy.
When she was running for the DPP leadership last year, Tsai said that “I also support a switch from the presidential system or semi-presidential system to a parliamentary system,” KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) said on Tuesday.
The KMT criticism came a day after Tsai told a group of DPP lawmakers that “the parliamentary system is out of the question,” in her first declaration of her position on a KMT proposal to revise the Constitution to allow for such a system.
Tsai based her claim on what she said is mainstream public opinion in which the majority of the public prefers to directly vote for president.
However, Yang said that polls show that 60 to 70 percent of the public would support giving the power back to the legislature to approve the appointment of a premier nominated by the president, which is in the spirit of a parliamentary system.
He accused Tsai of giving greater weight to direct presidential elections than reinstating the legislature’s power to approve a premier appointed by the president.
Tsai’s claim also raises questions over whether “her political calculations supersede her ideals for constitutional reform,” Yang said.
Other critics said Tsai’s opposition stems from her confidence that she will win the next year’s presidential election and that her party will secure more power under the current system than under a parliamentary system.
KMT lawmakers announced on Friday last week a plan to revise the Constitution by giving lawmakers back the power to approve the president’s appointment of a premier as part of a shift toward the parliamentary system.
Taiwan has a semi-presidential system and the president names the premier without having to seek consent from the legislature.
The reforms were introduced amid complaints that the president does not have to answer to the legislature, while the premier must bear the brunt of opposition to major administration policies.
Another view is that the government system should be changed to one in which power is commensurate with responsibility and a parliamentary system is more in tune with such calls, Yang said.
If the DPP insists on opposing the KMT’s constitutional reform proposals, at least it should make a counterproposal, rather than focusing on calculating its political gains, he added.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
The Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) has made a three-phased compulsory evacuation plan for Hualien County’s Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) disaster zone ahead of the potential formation of a typhoon. The plan includes mandatory vertical evacuation using air-raid-style alarms if needed, CEOC chief coordinator Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) told a news conference in the county yesterday. Volunteers would be prohibited from entering the disaster area starting tomorrow, the retired general said. The first phase would be relocating vulnerable residents, including elderly people, disabled people, pregnant women and dialysis patients, in shelters and hospitals, he said. The second phase would be mandatory evacuation of residents living in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
RSS