Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang dismissed a story in yesterday's Chinese-language United Daily News which said Wang hoped Ma could establish a "constitutional precedent" by delivering an address in the Legislative Yuan after he is sworn in.
When asked for comment, Wang said the legislature would have to find a cross-party consensus before Ma could give an address.
Wang said he was willing to fully cooperate with Ma if he needed to communicate to the legislature through him.
In related developments, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses criticized each other over whether legislative interpellations by the Cabinet should be suspended following the KMT's victory in Saturday's election.
The DPP caucus said yesterday that its members would oppose the KMT caucus' request that the premier continue his regular briefings to the legislature before the new president takes his oath on May 20.
"What they [the KMT] are requesting reflects the fact they want to bully the rest of the legislature," DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
Ker said that the premier's priorities now would be to ensure a smooth transition of power to the new premier.
"This is not the first handover of power. In the past, if that happened, the premier would not have had to brief the legislature before the new president and his government took the oath," Ker said.
"We should maintain that tradition," he said.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) responded by accusing Ker of lying, saying that the legislature does not have such a precedent of suspending the interpellation sessions following a presidential poll.
"The Cabinet is still pushing administrative work [before May 20]. Why does the legislature have to give up its right to question Cabinet officials and help the public supervise the government?" Lin said.
Showing the press copies of a cross-party negotiation document endorsed by Ker and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) Legislator Yen Ching-piao (
"If the KMT caucus had really forced [the DPP and the NPSU to accept the conclusion], why did the DPP sign the document before the KMT?" Lin said.
The document showed that the premier would not be required to attend today's interpellation session, but would be required to report "the Cabinet's principles to deal with important administrative affairs before May 20" to the legislature on Friday.
The interpellation session originally scheduled for next Tuesday would also be suspended, the document showed.
The conclusion, however, is not valid unless the KMT caucus also endorses it.
Upset by what it called the DPP's attempt's to "discredit" the KMT caucus, Lin last night said the KMT would refuse to endorse the agreement and the interpellation session would continue today as originally scheduled.
Meanwhile, Ker and his fellow DPP lawmakers apologized to their supporters during a press conference at the DPP caucus office for the DPP's defeats in January's legislative election and Saturday's election.
Ker said that the DPP would recognize and admit its failures but its members would still stand tall as political opponents to the KMT.
"We shall make sure that [the] president-elect carries out his campaign promises," Ker said.
He said that DPP members would elect a new chairman in May.
But, at the moment, potential candidates shall not be the focus for discussions because what DPP members should do is to figure out what they did wrong and what they need to improve so the public would regain their faith in the party, he said.
"If Frank Hsieh (
"It is more important for us to figure out how to do our jobs well and make sure the KMT is doing the right thing," he said.
‘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
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