Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday reiterated his promise to return a set of controversial reform bills to the Legislative Yuan for reconsideration, saying that the Cabinet is constitutionally obligated to do so if the new laws would be hard to enact.
Under Article 3 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the Cabinet can return a bill to the legislature for reconsideration within 10 days of its submission if it deems it difficult to execute.
If more than half of the total number of lawmakers uphold the original bill, the Cabinet must accept it. If they cannot reach a resolution within 15 days after the session begins, the bill becomes invalid.
Photo: CNA
Under the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法), the legislature can also invite the premier to attend the review to explain the Cabinet’s reasoning.
Speaking to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday, Cho reiterated plans to return the bills that were approved by the legislature on Tuesday.
Once the Cabinet receives the bills and determines that they are difficult to execute, it is its responsibility to return them to the legislature as mandated in the Constitution, he said.
He also voiced support for the caucus’ plan to file for a constitutional interpretation.
Writing on Facebook late on Tuesday, Cho decried the amendments, saying they infringe on constitutionally defined rights, separation of powers and the principle of legal certainty.
“The precious thing about democracy is that consensus is built through discussion and communication,” he wrote.
By sending the set of bills back, the Cabinet does not intend to exacerbate conflict, but to give the legislature another chance to scrutinize and perfect the bills, and to respond to public concerns, he said.
If the Cabinet formally returns the bills for reconsideration, it would be the 14th time in the nation’s history it has done so.
Since 2000, the Cabinet has sent six bills back to the legislature. Four were during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) tenure, and three of them failed to pass.
Of the two returned during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) tenure, both passed, while no bills were returned under former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
President William Lai (賴清德), speaking in his capacity as DPP chairman, said that the party respects and supports decisions by the Cabinet to return the bills and the party caucus to file for a constitutional interpretation.
Meanwhile, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) said that Lai had previously said he would be willing to give a state of the nation address at the legislature — as required in one of the reform bills — if it was conducted in a legal and constitutional manner.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun and CNA
The subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Kumamoto, Japan, turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the first fab of the unit has become profitable since mass production started at the end of 2024. According to the contract chipmaker’s financial statement released on Friday, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), a joint venture running the fab in Kumamoto, posted NT$951 million (US$30.19 million) in profit in the January-to-March period, compared with a loss of NT$1.39 billion in the previous quarter, and a loss of NT$3.25 billion in the first quarter of
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he would speak to President William Lai (賴清德) as his administration considers whether to move ahead with a US$14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan — a potential arms deal that has drawn criticism from China. “Well, I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump told reporters yesterday when asked if he had any plans to call his counterpart, although he did not offer a time frame for when such a conversation could take place. Trump previously said he would speak to the person “that’s running Taiwan,” without specifying who he meant. “We have that situation very
RSS