Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) yesterday said that if he is elected president, he would push for a parliamentary system of government in his first year in office.
Jaw, a former lawmaker who in 1993 left the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) with several other members to form the New Party, rejoined the KMT earlier this month and has said that he plans to seek the party’s nomination to run in the 2024 presidential election.
At a news conference in Taipei yesterday to discuss his policy recommendations, Jaw said that oversight is the most important part of a democracy.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“Our system is dominated by the president,” Jaw said.
The president “holds a lot of power, and there are no checks and balances,” he said.
“Although the US’ presidential system has flaws, at least the Congress and judiciary provide certain checks and balances,” he added.
Jaw listed Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UK as examples of democracies with relatively stable politics that have parliamentary systems.
He said that he is not the first person in the nation to propose a parliamentary system.
Different political parties have in the past proposed a parliamentary system while in opposition, but once they win the presidency, they “forget,” Jaw said.
“[President] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has three years left in office and cannot be re-elected. Why not push for a parliamentary system in that time?” Jaw asked, adding that it would help Tsai leave behind a good legacy.
Describing the parliamentary system as more inclusive, Jaw said that the “winner-takes-all” approach of the presidential system is unfair.
He said he hopes that Tsai would push for the implementation of a parliamentary system, but if she does not, he would promote a parliamentary system in his first year in office should he be elected president.
Jaw said that he also supports introducing absentee voting and giving 18-year-olds full voting rights, calling both “mainstream” policies globally.
He disclosed his proposal for a parliamentary system yesterday because proposals for constitutional amendments are set to be debated at the Legislative Yuan, Jaw said.
However, he later plans to speak on other issues, including cross-strait relations, Jaw added.
OVERHAUL NEEDED: The government should improve its agricultural processing capabilities and expand to new markets to limit its reliance on China, an expert said China’s ban on Taiwanese pineapples was “unsurprising,” and Taiwan should have years ago altered its produce export strategies and target customers, experts said. China on Friday abruptly suspended imports of pineapples from Taiwan, saying that it had on multiple occasions discovered “harmful biological entities” on the fruit. Calling it an “unfriendly” move, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said that 99.79 percent of the pineapples sent to China since last year have met China’s import standards. Chiao Chun (焦鈞), the author of Fruits and Politics — A Recollection of Cross-strait Agricultural Interaction Over the Past Decade (水果政治學：兩岸農業交流十年回顧與展望), said that China’s announcement is clearly targeting
‘NOT COLD ENOUGH’: Schools are disregarding Premier Su Tseng-chang’s instruction that students may wear out-of-uniform clothing to stay warm, an association said An investigative report revealed that 72.5 percent of the nation’s senior-high schools and 95.6 percent of junior-high schools punish students for wearing unapproved winter clothes in contravention of educational guidelines, lawmakers and student rights advocates said yesterday. Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan, the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy said there is an endemic disregard for the Ministry of Education’s regulations and that private schools are more likely to contravene ministry rules. The report is a compilation of 2,856 student reports about dress code reinforcement at 425 high schools and vocational high schools, the association said. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌)
DECADES OF INFLUENCE: Over the past 20 years, China has made inroads with Aborigines, funding political campaigns and trips, a legislator said Lawmakers have called on the National Security Bureau to investigate claims of pervasive Chinese influence among Aboriginal communities. Legislators pointed to a surge in communist propaganda and Chinese-funded projects over the past few years, which they say are aimed at infiltrating and buying political influence among Aboriginal communities. “China has for decades carried out wide-ranging ‘united front’ tactics and propaganda campaigns targeting Aborigines,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), a member of the Puyuma community in Taitung County. “Now, they are influencing elections for local councilors and village chiefs, offering money for candidates to mount their campaigns, and to
DISSATISFACTION? If the referendums collect more than 700,000 signatures each, they would have gotten the most signatures in the shortest time, the party said The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) two referendum petitions — one on banning the importation of pork with traces of ractopamine and the other on holding referendums on the same day as national elections — had as of Thursday gathered 691,398 and 674,497 signatures respectively, the party said yesterday. If the petitions collect more than 700,000 signatures apiece, they would have garnered the most signatures in the shortest time since the Referendum Act (公民投票法) was amended in 2017, party officials said. The KMT proposed the “anti-ractopamine pork” or “food safety” referendum just days after President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) announcement on Aug. 28 last
RSS