The opposition parties yesterday again blocked the Cabinet’s version of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) and the NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Procedure Committee.
The opposition parties also passed the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) proposal to invite President William Lai (賴清德) to the legislature for a question-and-answer session on national security matters and defense costs.
Lai on Monday night issued a video saying that he was willing to do so, provided that the procedures involved in such an event are in line with Paragraph 3, Article 4 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) and related Constitutional Court rulings.
yesterday.Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The legislature’s version of the act undermined the separation of powers, the nation’s finances and harmed people’s rights, he said.
The legislature’s consecutive abuse of legislative power is undermining Taiwan’s democracy, he said, adding that “at such a time, the president must uphold the nation’s constitutional system, protect the country and its people.”
Separately, the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee convener, KMT Legislator Wen Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), has put an item on today’s agenda.
The committee would hold a session asking officials, including the secretaries-general of the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice, to deliver a report on whether the president and the premier would be legally responsible if they did not announce laws and countersign legislation.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
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