Leading figures in the legislative speaker contest from the two biggest political parties visited the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus office yesterday to seek support ahead of the vote by legislators on Thursday.
Incumbent Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) together with Deputy Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), both of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), paid a visit in the afternoon, holding talks for about an hour with the TPP’s eight legislators-at-large in waiting.
In the morning, it was the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) prospective candidates for speaker and deputy speaker, former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and former KMT chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who visited the TPP caucus office for a closed-door meeting.
Photo: CNA
Since no party garnered a majority in the 113-seat legislature, the TPP holds a decisive minority, which could help either the DPP (51 seats) or the KMT (52 seats plus two independent legislators) win the influential position.
Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) headed the TPP’s legislators-at-large list.
“We had a discussion and exchange of views, and both sides have much in common. Taiwan’s national interest is most important and finding ways to improve Taiwan,” You said after the meeting. “We have the same ideals, to consolidate Taiwan’s democracy, institute legislative reforms and to strive for Taiwan to become a normal nation.”
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
You said that he made the visit in a personal capacity and he was not representing the DPP.
The TPP caucus has set conditions for which side would receive its eight votes, by outlining a list of reforms for the new legislature.
It is asking the new speaker to promise to push bills amending the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) that would stipulate penalties for officials found to have made false statements during hearings and bar government agencies from refusing legislators’ requests to access documents.
Other reform measures on the list include that lawmakers should have greater authority in confirming presidential or Cabinet nominations.
You said on social media that he would agree in principle to the five major reforms proposed by the TPP if he wins enough votes to remain speaker.
You added that he planned to meet with the KMT caucus today. He said that it is the norm for the legislative speaker to visit all the political parties.
Han also said that he fully supports the TPP’s major reforms for the legislature.
“During our meeting, we discussed many things without setting limits. Right now, we can only interact and deal with the TPP through honest and straight discussions. We ask outsiders not to view this meeting in a negative way, since it was a very positive visit,”he said.
Following the meeting, Han shook hands with each of the TPP’s eight legislators-at-large in waiting and warmly embraced Huang Kuo-chang.
Additional reporting by Lee Wen-hsin and Huang Ching-hsuan
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS