The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which has only 35 seats in the 113-seat legislature after the legislative elections on Jan. 16, yesterday won seven convener seats with the help of the People First Party (PFP), the luck of the draw and a blunder by a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker as the legislature held elections for 16 conveners of eight committees.
Of the eight legislative committees, the Education and Culture Committee and the Foreign and National Defense Committee are the only two that choose their conveners via recommendation instead of election. DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) and KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) will take turns to preside over education and culture committee meetings, while the foreign and national defense committees are to be overseen by DPP Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) and KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).
With two conveners needed for each committee, the DPP caucus assigned its lawmakers’ votes to make sure that even in those committees that did not have a sufficient number of DPP lawmakers to win both convener seats, a draw would be undertaken among one KMT lawmaker and two DPP lawmakers.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The Transportation Committee and the Internal Administration Committee, for instance, both saw one KMT lawmaker and two DPP lawmakers secure five votes each, with PFP Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) supporting the KMT candidate in the former and PFP Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) voting for a DPP candidate in the latter. A draw was then conducted in both cases.
KMT Legislator Chen Hsuen-sheng (陳雪生), who drew first, won the Transportation Committee draw and the other seat went to DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) based on seniority.
Luck was not on the DPP’s side in the Internal Administration Committee either, where KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) secured the convener seats.
The KMT candidate had PFP support in the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, resulting in KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) and DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) securing the seats.
In the Finance Committee, the vote made DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) and KMT Legislator Lu Hsiu-yen (盧秀燕) the conveners.
The DPP dominated in the Economics Committee, having DPP legislators Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) and Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) elected as conveners.
The most dramatic scenes played out in the vote for the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, with DPP Legislator Yang Yao (楊曜) voting for himself, leading to a tie between KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) and one of the two DPP candidates, Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國).
While DPP Legislator Lin Shu-feng (林淑芬) was guaranteed a seat, the draw between Wang and Liu Chien-kuo gave the seat to the KMT lawmaker.
Yang later yesterday asked the party to suspend his duties and privileges for a year as a reprimand for his blunder, which the DPP caucus said would be dealt with in tomorrow’s caucus meeting.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS