The DPP's legislative caucus plans to enlarge the National Security Council (NSC, 國安會) in order to endow President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) with greater power as well as integrate different voices across parties, a national daily reported yesterday.
According to the DPP's draft amendments for the Organization Law of the National Security Council (
The NSC's membership, which has five to seven advisors, will also be expanded to 11 to 15 members, including representatives recommended from major parties and subgroups in the Legislative Yuan.
All the selected advisors will be officially appointed by the president himself.
The suggestion to bring more representatives from different parties and legislative groups into the NSC is viewed as a positive message from President Chen after his advocacy of the supra-party task force (跨黨派小組).
However, there were dissenting opinions from opposition parties. The KMT believes that Chen is being irresponsible by asking opposition parties to take responsibility for his policies.
Meanwhile, the PFP and the New Party both said they would like to join the council if President Chen is serious about making the NSC a decision-making organization.
The new provisions will require the NSC to convene an official meeting every month and present an annual national security report. This is to enhance national security policies in order to make the NSC more systematic, according to the DPP's Chen Chung-shin (
All decisions made by the NSC will be sent to the Executive Yuan which will initiate new policies or laws to carry out the decisions.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS