Ties between the executive and legislative branches soured further yesterday as opposition lawmakers accused the Cabinet of seeking to demonize the legislature to mask its own administrative ineptitude.
Even the TSU, the tiny ally of the ruling DPP, portrayed as unfair Premier Yu Shyi-kun's earlier remark that the review of legislation had been disappointingly slow.
To prevent the discontent from getting out of hand, DPP caucus leaders paid a visit to their opposition counterparts in the hope of resuming cross-party talks that have been stalled for weeks.
Lawmakers from the opposition KMT and PFP held a joint news conference in the morning to protest the charge of inefficiency.
KMT legislative leader Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said the legislature has convened 14 full meetings, most of which were spent questioning the administration in line with the legislative calendar.
"Judging from the arrangement, it is not bad for the legislature to have passed more than 61 policy bills, as only four of the full meetings are used for second and third readings of legislation," Tseng told reporters.
On Wednesday, the premier expressed concerns that, of the 360 bills the Cabinet sent to the legislature over the past few months, only 65 have been made law. Noting that the current legislative session will end on May 31, Yu called on the lawmaking body to postpone recess until June to pass more bills to help boost the economy.
Tseng added that the premier, by demonizing the legislature, appeared to be shirking responsibility for failing to reinvigorate the economy.
PFP Legislative Whip Diane Lee (李慶安) agreed, saying that the Cabinet was trying to embarrass the legislature when the caucuses already had a consensus to extend the session till June.
"If the Cabinet's really that eager to see more bills adopted, it should take action to seek support from the legislature," Lee said, adding that her ruling colleagues have only listed 21 bills as "priority."
The TSU, founded last August to help the DPP government preserve stability, was also critical of the government.
TSU legislative leader Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said that the Cabinet should blame itself if it finds the legislative review ineffective.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
RSS