The opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) yesterday used their combined legislative majority to vote to extend the current Legislative Yuan session until Jan. 31.
The two opposition parties, which together control 62 of the body's 113 seats, outvoted Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers 59-49 to extend the session.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The legislature meets in two regular sessions each year: one from February to the end of May, and the other from September to the end of December.
The TPP caucus said it put forth the proposal because the Executive Yuan did not prepare next year's budget for military and police pay in accordance with the law, leaving the budget stalled and preventing substantive committee review.
DPP lawmakers during the session accused the opposition of aiming to protect themselves by amending the law to give elected officials the right to use compensation for assistants as they see fit.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) urged legislators to heed the constitutional provision requiring the next fiscal year's budget to be reviewed by Dec. 31.
The bill has been stalled in the legislature for more than four months, she said, calling on lawmakers to review the budget to ensure the normal operation of the country.
Additional reporting by Su Yung-yao
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS