The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) today boycotted a Legislative Yuan committee hearing on a motion to impeach President William Lai (賴清德), calling the move a political farce by the opposition.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucuses initiated impeachment proceedings against Lai on Dec. 26 last year, after Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) refused to countersign a fiscal planning bill.
The plenary committee held a hearing today, inviting government officials and members of the public to present their views.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The KMT and TPP sent experts, academics and party legislators to attend the hearing, while the DPP did not send anyone.
A second review meeting is to be held on May 13 and 14, with Lai invited to appear and provide an explanation.
The Legislative Yuan is to hold the impeachment vote on May 19.
Under the Additional Articles of the Constitution (中華民國憲法增修條文), an impeachment motion against the president or vice president must be proposed by at least one-half of all legislators and approved by at least two-thirds.
In other words, it requires at least 76 votes in favor for the case to be submitted to the Constitutional Court for review.
As the DPP holds 51 out of 113 legislative seats, the chances of the motion passing are slim.
At the hearing today, attendees explained why Lai should be impeached, arguing that it is a justified, legally grounded and constitutional action, consistent with the spirit of constitutional integrity.
The clearest reason to impeach Lai is that he directed Cho not to countersign the fiscal planning bill, retired National Taiwan University political science professor Hwang Giin-tarng (黃錦堂) said.
This was a deliberate act that contravenes the Constitution, as it concerns the structure and division of powers between the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan, Hwang said, calling it the most serious constitutional contravention, driven by electoral considerations.
Erroneous energy policies are even worse than corruption, Climate Vanguards founder Yang Chia-fa (楊家法) said, adding that energy policy is the foundation of a nation’s survival.
Lai’s energy policies have been inconsistent, leaving implementing agencies and the public unsure how to respond, Yang said.
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
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
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
RSS