Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Legislator Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) was this morning voted cochair of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, becoming the only from her party to lead a committee this session thanks to backing from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
The eight committees of the Legislative Yuan met today to vote on new chairs, with each committee led by one legislator from the ruling party and another from the opposition.
The leadership of the Foreign and National Defense Committee was appointed to Lin and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇).
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
In the last session, the KMT ceded the opposition chair of the Internal Administration Committee to independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅). No TPP member chaired a committee in the previous session, although in the last legislature, then-TPP caucus convener Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) led the Transportation Committee for a session.
Lin said she is thankful to the KMT for allowing her to assume the position, and she hopes to live up to expectations as the TPP and KMT cooperate rationally and pragmatically to oversee legislative affairs.
Asked afterward if the budget would be cut for the Indigenous Defense Submarine program, Lin said that legislators would increase discussion and investigation of the matter.
The former head of the Indigenous Submarine Program, Admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光), is the older brother of TPP Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊). Asked if this would impact budget cuts, Lin said not to jump to conclusions and that the budget would be closely supervised by legislators.
Lin did not clarify if this latest cooperation between the TPP and KMT was decided yesterday or today, but said that she respects the agreement and decision of the coalition.
Asked if any conditions were placed on cooperation between the parties, Lin declined to comment.
TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) was seen greeting legislators in today’s meeting.
Asked if his attendance was to finalize an agreement between the two parties, Lin said that Huang Kuo-chang is her superior and his attendance was not out of the ordinary.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS