The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should include forming a “constitutional reform committee” as a topic on the agenda of the Legislative Yuan’s extraordinary session, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said yesterday.
Such a move would formally launch discussions about abolishing the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan, Lin said.
Abolishing the two branches of government is the consensus among the ruling and opposition parties, and the DPP should heed public opinion by listing the issue as a topic for the extraordinary session, which is to begin on Monday next week, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The DPP caucus has only proposed reviewing bills on a “citizen judge” lay judge system and on reforming the irrigation associations, as well as Control Yuan and National Communications Commission member nominees.Just as former Yunlin County commissioner Lee Chin-yung’s (李進勇) resignation from the DPP when appointed by the Executive Yuan to head the Central Election Commission was unconvincing, former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Chu’s (陳菊) pledge to leave the DPP to serve as Control Yuan president does not convince people, Lin wrote in a statement.
He accused Chen of “putting on a show,” as her party membership can be reinstated after she steps down as Control Yuan president.
Chen, who was Kaohsiung mayor from 2006 to 2018, achieved “embarrassingly little” for the municipality and condoned a culture of corruption among Kaohsiung City Government officials, Lin wrote.
Of the 27 people nominated by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to serve as Control Yuan members, 24 have close ties with the DPP, which runs counter to the idea of exercising their authority in a nonpartisan manner, he wrote.
Following yesterday’s cross-caucus talks, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) and DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) voiced support on Facebook for abolishing the two agencies, and if the DPP is serious about moving forward, Tsai should rescind her nominations, Lin wrote.
He questioned whether the DPP intends to hire more “hit men” like Control Yuan member Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), who sparked an uproar in the judiciary in 2018 when he said he would target judges who only try people from the pan-green camp and do nothing about people from the pan-blue camp.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS