Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) tendered his resignation yesterday after 11 of the 29 Control Yuan nominees recommended by the Presidential Office were rejected by the legislature, where the KMT holds a majority.
At press time last night, it had not been confirmed whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) accepted Lin’s resignation. Ma, who is also the KMT chairman, is widely expected to ask Lin to stay in his post for the next round of nominations to fill the 11 slots.
Lin yesterday said that as the “frontline commander,” he was taking responsibility for the unexpected outcome of the vote.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Lin and the KMT caucus blamed outgoing Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) for the “surprising outcome” on Tuesday night, after it became clear that KMT lawmakers had failed to vote in line with the party’s wishes.
Not only was incoming Control Yuan president Chang Po-ya’s (張博雅) nomination confirmed by only a hair’s breadth, 11 of the 27 candidates for Control Yuan members were voted down by the legislature, despite Ma’s insistence on a “complete passage that leaves no one behind.”
At a press conference held immediately after the votes had been tallied, Lin said that Wang’s accusations of wrongdoing — including accepting gifts — by incumbent members affected the vote for those seeking a second term.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Lin said he respected the outcome of the vote, but regretted that “some of nominees did not have enough time to clear the doubts against them.”
Meanwhile, KMT headquarters laid the blame on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with KMT Culture and Communications Committee Director Fan Chiang Chi-tai (范姜基泰), saying late on Tuesday that the disappointing outcome was a result of the DPP’s “deliberate fabrication of false information about some nominees.”
Chang, the new helmswoman of the Control Yuan, visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and the two party caucuses yesterday.
Asked about the low support she garnered, she said it was “the product of political wrestling.”
Chang also expressed her concern about the operation of the institution when DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯健銘) called on Ma not to submit a new list of nominees to fill the 11 positions.
She said it would be harder to impeach officials given the current number of members.
Ker said it was a problem that could be easily fixed.
“What matters now is to rebuild the institution’s image. Ma’s next round of nominees would not be the best choice and they would be nominated just for the sake of being nominated,” Ker said.
Presidential Office spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said Ma would have a new list of nominees before the next legislative session starts.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS