Kaohsiung’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayor, Chen Chu (陳菊), yesterday protested a Cabinet decision that she said left the city government with insufficient time to propose a major construction priority list.
Chen told a press conference in Taipei that the Kaohsiung City Government was not notified of the proposal until 4pm on Tuesday.
“[The Cabinet] required all local governments to immediately propose a priority list within 24 hours. Of course the quality will be questionable,” she said.
She alleged that the Cabinet might have deliberately sent late notices to city and county governments run by the DPP.
“I guess the Cabinet was testing [the ability] of the cities and counties governed by the DPP,” she said.
“If [the cities and counties] were treated differently just because the local governments are run by a different political party, I believe such an attitude will lead to controversies and inequality [between local governments] in the future,” Chen said.
Although the Cabinet decided that Kaohsiung City will receive NT$3.8 billion in the Cabinet’s planned budget to boost domestic demand, Chen urged the Cabinet to allocate the budget after considering the demand and development of each city and county.
Meanwhile, the legislature resolved to extend the current legislative session through July 18 to allow sufficient time to deal with budget requests from state-run enterprises and the new Cabinet’s budget proposals.
The legislature will also invite the premier to report his administrative principles next Friday while the new Cabinet’s budget requests will be submitted to the legislature on June 2.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) also urged the DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses to negotiate with the central government regarding when the legislature will deal with the Presidential Office’s nomination lists of members of the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan. The lists are scheduled to be sent to the legislature on June 23.
In a related development, the KMT caucus has invited the premier to report on the Cabinet’s policy in response to rising oil prices during today’s caucus meeting.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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