With 51 votes for and 14 against, the DPP legislative caucus passed a resolution yesterday saying that DPP Legislator-at-large Chiu Chang (
The passing of the resolution means that Chiu's case will be passed on to the party's Central Review Committee (CRC,
The party alleges that in refusing to show her ballot, Chiu ignored a party resolution requiring members to show how they voted. Chiu's refusal, the resolution said, cast doubt on whether she had voted for the DPP candidate.
PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
On April 1, the party's CRC voted 8 to 2 to strip Chiu of her membership. That ruling, however, was overturned by the DPP Arbitration Committee on April 3, because of procedural flaws.
Yesterday's meeting started with a videotape of the incident, after which Chiu spoke in her defense. Following Chiu, reports were presented by Tsai Huang-liang (
Even though the meeting was help in a spirit of openness, there are reports that the party's Justice Alliance (
If the CRC decides to expel Chiu, she will become the third DPP legislator to be expelled from the party in its history, following Hou Hai-hsiung (侯海熊) and Chang Chin-cheng (張晉城). She would also lose her post as a legislator-at-large and become one the legislature's shortest-serving members ever.
In reaction to the landslide decision in favor of passing her case on to the CRC, Chiu said, "It's OK, I'll continue fighting," adding that she had submitted a request for a constitutional interpretation last week.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard