The opening session of the Constitutional Amendment Committee at the legislature in Taipei got off to a rocky start yesterday, with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers storming out soon after it began.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers gathered for the inaugural session at 9am while their KMT counterparts arrived shortly afterward, followed by Taiwan People’s Party representatives.
KMT members said that they objected to DPP Legislator Chou Chun-mi (周春米) being chosen as convener before they entered.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
They accused the DPP of breaching legislative regulations governing committee meetings.
DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said that proceedings had conformed to the regulations and members had reached quorum, so he and DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) raised the motion to nominate Chou, which was approved by those who were present.
KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) said her party members were only one minute late.
KMT members then exited the meeting in protest, saying that it was a DPP ploy to breach the regulations, derailing the process of constitutional amendments.
“We had quorum and complied with regulations to nominate a convener,” Chung said. “Were the KMT in charge, we would abide by the procedures, allowing it to nominate a convener.”
“As members of the ruling party, we respectfully listen to suggestions and opinions of opposition members, so I ask that the KMT members return and do the work at this committee,” he said.
Later yesterday, the KMT at a news conference accused the DPP of not wanting the meeting to get started, so it orchestrated a way to halt proceedings while blaming the KMT.
The caucuses on Sept. 14, 2020, agreed to set up the committee amid calls to amend the Constitution, including a proposal to lower the voting age from 20 to 18.
The 39 members of the committee were named after seats were allotted to parties based on their proportion of seats in the legislature.
Additional reporting by Chen yun and CNA
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS