While the New Power Party (NPP) caucus had proposed constitutional amendments, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday said that constitutional reform is a “false issue” because amending the Constitution has been made almost impossible, and only establishing a new constitution altogether would help Taiwan.
“Constitutional amendment is a false issue, because amendments passed in 2005 made it almost impossible to amend the Constitution,” TSU spokeswoman Chou Ni-an (周倪安) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
“According to constitutional amendments [passed in 2005], endorsements from one-quarter of the legislators, or 29 seats, are required to propose a constitutional amendment, three-quarters of the legislators, or 85 seats, must attend the meeting [to propose an amendment] and three-quarters of those who attend the meeting, or 64 seats, must agree to the proposal,” Chou said. “After the amendment proposal passed the first phase, it would be put to a public referendum within six months after its proposal.”
For the amendment proposal to pass the referendum, 50 percent of the total number of eligible voters must vote “yes,” Chou said.
Chou said that as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) holds an absolute majority in the legislature, the party should help to revise the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to lower the threshold for referendums on constitutional amendments.
“The TSU would then work with civil society to push for creating a new constitution,” she said.
TSU Department of Social Movements director Chang Chao-lin (張兆林) said that while the party supports constitutional amendments proposed by the NPP to lower the voting age from 20 to 18 and abolish the Taiwan Provincial Government, “they [the NPP] overlooked the high threshold passed in the seventh constitutional reform [in 2005].”
Chang said that the majority of Taiwanese voted for the more Taiwan-oriented DPP because they expected the party to create a better environment for Taiwan to become a new and independent nation.
“Creating a new Constitution through a referendum is the best way to keep Taiwan independent, protect the people’s rights and fight against China’s ambitions on Taiwan,” Chang said. “We should not waste time on impossible constitutional reform.”
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS