A majority of opposition legislators are prepared to support the continuation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant when they gather for an extraordinary legislative session tentatively scheduled for the end of this month.
While the KMT and People First Party legislative caucuses are firmly against halting the project, the anti-nuclear New Party has decided to allow its members a free vote rather than requiring them to uphold the party line.
Cheng Yung-chin (
"The caucus will try to seek a reconciliation with these legislators," Cheng said.
For example, Cheng noted that when the legislature last voted to restore the power plant's budget in 1996, KMT legislators from Taipei County abstained from voting rather than casting a ballot against the project.
Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交), spokesman for the PFP caucus, said that because the Council of Grand Justices has ruled there were "procedural flaws" in the Cabinet's Oct. 27 decision to halt the plant's construction, the work-stoppage order is therefore unconstitutional.
Based on this line of reasoning, PFP legislators will vote against the decision, Hwang said.
"This won't involve any substantive discussion on the pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear issues," Hwang said.
Lai Shyh-bao (
Lai said some caucus members are strongly against continuing the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, but there are others who support keeping the new plant on the condition that the first and second nuclear power plants cease operations earlier than scheduled.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Lawmakers are expected to pass a resolution supporting the power plant project after Chang's report.
Chang yesterday said he hopes differences over the nuclear project can be resolved through inter-party negotiations before he delivers his report to the legislature.
Legislators have targeted Jan. 30 as the date for the extraordinary legislative session.
But the KMT caucus is considering delaying the meeting until Feb. 2, so as to allow more time for colleagues who are spending their vacation abroad to come back for the special session.
The legislators will meet on Jan. 22 to make a final decision on the date.
Meanwhile, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) called on the DPP yesterday to heed public opinion and resume construction work on the power plant as soon as possible.
Proposing a compromise measure, DPP Legislator Hsu Tain-tsair (
After successfully ensuring against the risk of a power shortage in Taiwan, the Executive Yuan could then submit a proposal to the legislature to convert the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant into a nuclear power museum, Hsu said.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS