The ruling and opposition parties have begun mobilizing lawmakers for what has been described as a showdown in the upcoming legislative plenary session tomorrow to vote on whether to invite President Chen Shui-bian (
The TSU, which submitted the resolution bill but later attempted to revoke it, failed to keep the bill off the plenary session's agenda after a vote at the legislative rules committee Friday.
TSU deputy legislative whip Chen Chien-ming (
Chen said that the timing and method of a state-of-the-nation address to the legislature must be governed by a set of legal measures that are currently lacking. The content of the address should be decided by the president himself, he added.
Meanwhile, opposition KMT legislator Lin Yi-shi (
No Taiwanese president has ever delivered a report to the Legislative Yuan. Such a report was in the past normally delivered to the National Assembly, which is now a non-standing body.
The amended ROC Constitution allows for the Legislative Yuan to invite the president to deliver a report, but the previous legislature did not call for such an invitation because of concerns that such a move might blur the checks-and-balances relationship between the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan as well as because the political parties believed it was meaningless to listen to a presidential report without being able to field questions.
TSU legislator Su Ying-kuei (
"The president wields power bestowed upon him by the public so he has to shoulder responsibility by reporting to the highest national assembly," he said.
Su considered it inappropriate for the president to promulgate his ideas on unofficial occasions such as during interviews with the media or when receiving guests.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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