Amid recent tension between the legislative and administrative branches, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
In a press conference yesterday afternoon, Wang said the failure of the new administration to push through its policies at the legislature was the result of the Executive Yuan's lack of communication with lawmakers as well as its incompetence in seeking solutions through institutional venues.
"The administrative branch has put blame on the legislature's unwillingness to cooperate, leading to outsiders' misunderstanding of the overall situation. But the fact is that the administrative branch has failed to operate according to constitutional norms," Wang said.
Citing examples of the recent revision of Labor Standards Law regarding workweek reduction as well as the bill for an elderly stipend program, Wang said the administrative branch never communicated with various party caucuses at the legislature beforehand in order to seek support for these policies.
"Nor did the administration require the ruling party [the DPP] caucus or me to conduct cross-party negotiations to help push through these policies," Wang said.
"One cannot jump to conclusions and say that the legislative power has encroached on the administrative power when the Legislative Yuan passes a bill which is different from the draft proposal presented by the Executive Yuan," Wang said.
Wang yesterday morning blasted the Cabinet for being inexperienced in dominating the policy formulation process, accusing the administrative branch of putting the blame on the legislature.
Responding to Wang's statements yesterday morning, secretary general of the Cabinet Wei Chi-lin (
"They expressed willingness to improve interaction between the two branches, guaranteeing that Cabinet members would not make any indiscriminate statements to hurt the Legislative Yuan," Wang said.
But DPP caucus convener Cheng Pao-ching (
Cheng also said Wang should have grasped the overall situation before blaming the administrative branch for failing to communicate with lawmakers. "How can he say that the Executive Yuan never communicated with the legislature in the past two months?" he said.
The premier admitted last week that policies put forward by the new government had met with setbacks at the legislature. While saying the Cabinet was willing to negotiate with opposition party lawmakers before any policy formulation, Tang also urged lawmakers not to pass related bills ahead of policy formation.
Political analysts had warned that the new government's initiatives might be frustrated at the legislature as the DPP, the party the president belongs to, remains a minority in the legislature, while the KMT, Taiwan's former ruling party, dominates the legislative seats.
Meanwhile, opposition party caucuses reached a three-point consensus yesterday to amend the newly introduced interpellation system in the wake of pitfalls observed last week when the new system was tried out for the first time at the legislative chamber.
Lawmakers are required to leave "appropriate time" for any Cabinet member to respond to questions put to them. In addition, both lawmakers and officials should complete substantial question-and-answer sessions on the basis of "mutual respect," Wang said.
While the regulations state that lawmakers are entitled to appoint any Cabinet member to answer questions, the consensus reached yesterday urged lawmakers to allow the premier to appoint any Cabinet member that he considers appropriate to reply to questions put to them.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS