Scuffles broke out at the Legislative Yuan yesterday as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers again occupied the legislative chamber, stymieing a report by Control Yuan presidential nominee Chen Chu (陳菊) and a question-and-answer session.
The KMT lawmakers showed up at the back door of the chamber at about 5am and tried to enter, but were stopped by several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers who were guarding the door.
Scuffles broke out as the KMT lawmakers tried to force their way through the door, injuring legislators on both sides.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
KMT Legislator Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) tackled DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), while DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) became entangled with KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲).
Wang, showing a bruise on his face and scrapes on his body, accused two of Lin’s assistants of attacking him during the scuffle.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) cut his wrist during the standoff. His injury was purportedly caused by a sheet of glass in one of the chamber’s doors that had been broken during the confrontation.
Photo: CNA
DPP and KMT lawmakers ran for the speaker’s rostrum once the chamber’s doors opened for yesterday’s meeting, but KMT lawmakers were quicker, allowing them to freeze the proceedings for the rest of the day.
KMT lawmakers then overturned three podiums, damaging monitors fitted in them.
Five lawmakers from the Taiwan People’s Party later entered the chamber to join their KMT counterparts in chanting: “Abolish the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan,” and “Retract the nominations.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Several KMT lawmakers lay on a driveway at the Legislative Yuan’s back door on Qingdao E Road in an attempt to stop Chen from entering the chamber, but Chen entered by the side door on Zhenjiang Street and was escorted into the chamber by police.
Seeing that the meeting had been stymied, Chen left the legislature at about 11:30am.
About 200 protesters also gathered outside the Legislative Yuan to protest Chen’s nomination. They later marched to the Control Yuan in an attempt to continue their protest there, but were evicted by police, as they had not obtained permission for a demonstration.
As of press time last night, the legislative chamber was still controlled by the KMT caucus.
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) in a statement said that the lawmakers’ assistants who were involved in the scuffle had seriously affected lawmakers’ right to exercise their authority.
To ensure lawmakers’ safety and that they can duly exercise their authority as mandated by the Constitution, the assistants who took part in the scuffle would be reported to the police, he said.
Lin said that physical contact was inevitable during the chaos.
The physical contact was unintentional and should not be scrutinized, he added, calling on people to focus on the larger issue.
Chen later said she regretted not being able to deliver her report and posted its transcript on Facebook.
Stating that she understands that abolishing the Control Yuan has become a public consensus, she wrote that she would shoulder the responsibility of pushing forward a transition in the political system, as long as lawmakers arrive at that conclusion through constitutional reform.
Until then, she would ensure that the branch operates in a non-partisan manner and is insulated from any undue influence when discharging its duties of impeachment and censure, she added.
Regarding the Control Yuan president’s role as the chair of the National Human Rights Commission, Chen wrote that she would offer the Executive Yuan and lawmakers advice on legislation relating to the protection of human rights, and ensure that the concept of human rights is instilled in government agencies at all levels.
As for accusations of corruption leveled against her by the KMT, Chen wrote that other than being imprisoned as a political prisoner after the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident, she had been clean-handed throughout her political career and had never once faced impeachment.
Additional reporting by Lin Liang-sheng
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
RSS