The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus on Thursday said that it aims to pass a bill on the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ill-gotten party assets by the end of the current legislative session on Friday next week, or during an extraordinary legislative session, even at the cost of “physical clashes.”
Passing the bill is an important first step for transitional justice in Taiwan and the DPP is determined to have it passed, even if such insistence leads to physical conflict, caucus members said during a luncheon meeting with Premier Lin Chuan (林全).
As the current legislative session is scheduled to ends on Friday next week, a source within the Executive Yuan said the ill-gotten party assets bill is the most uncertain bill yet to clear the floor, and the caucus has informed the premier about it, adding that it might effect the progress of other legislation.
According to the draft bill, which passed an initial review on Wednesday, the Executive Yuan could create a commission to handle illicit party assets, including organizations affiliated with political parties, such as the China Youth Corps and the National Women’s League of the Republic of China, and would require such groups to declare their assets.
During Thursday’s meeting, Lin also asked about Cabinet-proposed tax reform bills and budgets for state-run businesses.
The KMT caucus has proposed more than 1,000 cuts to state-run business budgets, which are all yet to be discussed in cross-party negotiations and could have a significant impact on Taiwan’s economic development, DPP caucus director-general Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said, adding that the budgets were all proposed by the KMT earlier this year when it was still the governing party.
The caucus and the premier also reached an agreement that if the bill and the budgets could not be passed by Friday next week then the DPP would propose holding an extraordinary legislative session on July 18.
Meanwhile, Wu said he would try to negotiate with the KMT caucus over its request that Lin make a presentation regarding last week’s accidental firing of a missile from Kaohsiung into the Taiwan Strait.
Starbucks Taiwan’s decision to charge for drink customization, which had been free, has sparked consumer backlash, highlighting the challenge of raising prices without making customers feel they are losing value, experts said. Since Oct. 12, customers who order drinks with less or no ice and ask to have the volume topped up with milk or other liquid have been charged an additional NT$15. Topping off drinks without ice was previously free, and disgruntled customers posted photos on social media showing that iced drinks ordered without ice were only half full if the extra NT$15 was not paid. The posts drew tens of thousands
EXPLANATION: Tsai said he attended events featuring various interviewees to observe them firsthand as part of his interview research Television host Kevin Tsai (蔡康永) last night broke his silence over a controversy surrounding his appearance at a campaign event for Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋), saying he had never supported Taiwan independence. “I have always hoped for friendly cross-strait relations. I have never supported Taiwan independence,” Tsai wrote in a post on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. Tsai, who has hosted television shows in China, attended the opening of Shen’s campaign headquarters on Oct. 4, drawing criticism from Chinese social media users and prompting some Chinese companies to distance themselves from him. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
The husband of a Taiwanese woman stabbed to death at a hotel in Japan has been detained on suspicion of entering into a sham marriage and taking out high-value insurance policies in her name, Tainan prosecutors said today. A woman surnamed Ching (井), 38, was killed on Monday last week at a tourist hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, Japan. A Taiwanese woman surnamed Yang (楊) was arrested by Japanese police on suspicion of murder, Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office deputy chief prosecutor Wang Sheng-hao (王聖豪) said. Investigators suspect that Ching's new husband, surnamed Lee (李), 29, arranged a sham marriage, encouraged her to travel to Japan
Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Air launched a new route yesterday between Tainan and Hanoi, becoming the third international route offered out of the southern Taiwan airport. Tainan Deputy Mayor Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) greeted passengers on the inaugural inbound flight from Hanoi, while noting that all 230 seats on the outbound flight had sold out. Flights on the route, which use the Airbus 321, will be offered four times weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. According to VietJet, the flights will depart Hanoi at 7:50 am and arrive in Tainan at 11:10 am The return
RSS