Opposition legislators yesterday accused President William Lai (賴清德) of being “arrogant” and deplored what they called the ruling party’s “instrumentalization of the judiciary” during an impeachment hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers on Dec. 19 last year moved to impeach Lai, accusing him of dereliction of duty and unconstitutional actions.
They said the Lai administration refused to ratify the amendments that had passed the third reading in the Legislative Yuan.
Photo: CNA
At yesterday’s hearing, KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) accused the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of hypocrisy for calling the impeachment a “farce,” as Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) filed eight appeals urging the review of amendments, even though he knew they would be turned down.
TPP Legislator Wang An-hsiang (王安祥) implored William Lai to reconsider his energy policies, saying that the impeachment was a warning to an “arrogant” government that “claims there are no power shortage issues, while hiking electricity prices.”
KMT Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽) said William Lai is the first president to be the target of an impeachment motion, which is proof that the public is fed up with the government’s policies and its “disrespect” for the legislative branch.
Meanwhile, the DPP in a news conference condemned the hearing as a “competition to bad-mouth President Lai,” saying that the party would not yield to a sham hearing.
The DPP said that Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT agrees with it, as he is away on an official tour in Europe while the impeachment hearings are taking place.
DPP caucus chief executive Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that the legislature’s focus should be on expediting the review of the general budget and addressing how the nation is to pay for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems from the US due at the end of this month.
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