Cashing in on their numerical superiority, the opposition parties last night forced through crucial legal revisions that the DPP government warned would hamper its smooth and effective functioning.
During a marathon session that started yesterday morning and will last until this morning, the opposition alliance -- despite protests from DPP legislators -- made law a proposal to allow Taiwanese people to enter China via offshore islands.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Outgoing KMT lawmaker Chao Erh-chung (
DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) sarcastically painted the reform as the last work of Chao, as he lost his seat representing the outlying island of Kinmen in the Dec. 1 elections.
Opposition lawmakers also succeeded in pushing through a disputed legal overhaul that will enable local governments to keep a greater share of tax revenues. Led by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
But top government statistician Lin Chuan (
Ma called a news conference at 10pm to thank the lawmaking body for adopting the legislation. Earlier in the day, chaotic wrangling virtually paralyzed the legislature, as lawmakers eager to push their pet bills up the agenda bickered over the order of business hammered out by caucus leaders.
Responding to a top mobilization order, over 130 lawmakers of all political stripes took part in the session. The high attendance rate did little to expedite the legislative process that was frequently disrupted by members whose bills risk being scrapped because they are not branded "priority."
The current session will fold before noon today, as the legislature has set aside the afternoon for outgoing legislators to deliver their farewell speeches.
As of 4:30pm, the body passed only two legal overhauls intended to halve capital gains tax on property for two years, as suggested by last year's Economic Development Advisory Conference to revive the domestic real-estate market.
The measure, lobbied for by leading industrialists, is expected to shrink local government coffers by NT$22 billion a year. The Cabinet has pledged to make up the shortfall.
Leaders from all caucuses spent the entire morning and early afternoon seeking to carve out an agenda for the remaining session.
They struck a deal to first review bills the Cabinet and all caucuses labeled as urgent, to be followed by a vote this morning on controversial items in the 2002 fiscal budget.
If time allows, the agreement said, the legislature may take up proposals to establish a financial supervisory board, look after soldiers who fought in 1958 cross-strait warfare and spare accountants already in practice the trouble of gaining certification.
The agreement drew vehement protests from members who strove to score points before their tenure expires at the end of this month.
"It makes no sense to put so-called uncontroversial bills on the backburner," said KMT legislator Chiang Yi-wen (
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS