The legislature yesterday passed a resolution to abolish the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會法).
After much hubbub following the New Power Party (NPP) caucus’ proposal to abolish the act in March, the legislature, with the support of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the NPP caucuses, made a final decision on the motion yesterday evening.
Toward the end of yesterday’s floor meeting, the NPP caucus proposed and, with the DPP caucus’ support, passed an extension of the meeting to get to the motion calling for the abolition of the act.
The resolution received 45 votes of support out of a total of 54 votes cast, with the remainder all cast by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers against the abolition.
Various KMT lawmakers took turns to speak on the podium in front of the general assembly before the vote.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) accused the DPP of launching a “political vendetta” after taking power on May 20, which he said extended “even to a social welfare group that has been labeled a subsidiary of the KMT.”
He accused the DPP and the NPP of carrying out an “extermination” plan against the Red Cross for political gain based on the mentality of the independence-unification divide.
“They want to establish a Taiwan Red Cross Society and get rid of the Republic of China’s,” Lai said.
KMT legislators Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), Lin Te-fu (林德福), Arthur Chen (陳宜民) and Alicia Wang (王育敏) all said there was no need to abolish the act, as amendments would suffice to rid the Red Cross society of its controversial aspects.
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said the aim was to abolish the Red Cross’ “privileged special act.”
“Stop saying that the abolition of the act is to exterminate the society, as the group can continue to exist in accordance with the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法) and the Charity Donations Act (公益勸募條例),” Wu said.
NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said abolition was the first step toward helping the Red Cross “get back on the right track.”
The legislature yesterday also passed an overhaul of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), one amendment of which DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said gave it “teeth.”
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said four major areas of reform would prohibit the intentional damaging of heritage sites.
“The first is ‘cultural equality,’ which means that all people have the right to initiate a review process to determine the status of a supposed heritage site,” Kuan said. “The second is that, if a government agency fails to manage a heritage site it is responsible for managing, it can be transferred to another agency at zero cost.”
“The third is to guarantee that any supposed heritage site, once a review process has been initiated, would be protected as historical site,” Kuan said.
“The fourth is an absolute guarantee of punishment if one damages a historical site. The minimum jail sentence would be six months,” she added.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS