The heads of Taiwan's five government branches yesterday reached a consensus in three areas, including the establishment of a communications platform to resolve disagreements, after attending a meeting led by President William Lai (賴清德).
Speaking after the meeting, Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said the five branch heads agreed to set up a platform to improve communications and cooperation to enable them to advance public policies and reinforce Taiwan's democracy and freedom.
Photo: CNA
They also agreed that the five branches of government — the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan and Control Yuan — all have their own duties and checks and balances, but still need to respect each other.
The five branch heads also believed that competition among political parties is allowed, but that the nation cannot be sacrificed by their competition, as Taiwan is faced with a fast-changing world.
They felt that the five branches needed to unite, in particular on national defense and diplomatic issues by prioritizing national security, Pan said.
The meeting was called by Lai to discuss issues related to Taiwan and the severe political and economic challenges it faces at home and abroad.
More specifically, it was focused on the stand-off between Lai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and the Legislative Yuan, in which the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) have teamed up to pass measures strongly opposed by the DPP.
Most recently, the two sides have battled over the central government's budget.
The KMT and TPP have cut or froze some of the DPP's budget request, but still allowed the overall budget to grow by about 3 percent compared with last year.
However, the DPP has argued that the cuts would make it hard for it to carry out its policies.
After the meeting, Pan said national security, economic development and caring for the people cannot be compromised and represent the responsibilities and goals that the ruling and opposition parties should pursue together.
Both the ruling and opposition parties should put people in the country first, and therefore the five branches should work together to boost the local economy and strengthen industrial development to protect public welfare, he said.
How those principles would lead to conciliation between the different sides was unclear, given that Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is the only head of the five branches aligned with the opposition, and his post does not involve policymaking.
The confrontation in the Legislative Yuan has led to a massive campaign initiated by DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) to recall KMT lawmakers, and the KMT decided to retaliate.
After the meeting, Han hoped Lai would urge the ruling and opposition camps to stop their recall campaigns.
He also called on the Cabinet not to ask the Legislative Yuan to vote a second time on the general budget plan once it is submitted to the government, but said the legislature was willing to hold cross-party negotiations to find a solution to parts of the budget the Executive Yuan has claimed it would have trouble implementing.
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
RSS