Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Proper way of constitutional reform

Yao Meng-chang 姚孟昌

The constitution lays down two guiding principles for the Republic of China’s governmental structure: the “separation of powers and of checks and balances” and the “cooperation between state organs to uphold each other’s effectiveness.”

The grand justices have often reinforced these two principles through constitutional interpretations, emphasizing that all constitutional bodies have a duty of loyalty to the “constitutional order of liberal democracy.”

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) recently challenged the roles of the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan, two of the five branches of government.

Security stepped up after incursion: Cho

Taipei Times

Taiwan has stepped up national security measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, after a former Chinese navy captain was arrested for illegally entering the nation on a motorboat.

“National security cannot be neglected for a minute,” he said, adding that security units had been instructed to “immediately strengthen protective measures.”

Coast guard personnel arrested the man, surnamed Ruan (阮), on Sunday after his boat collided with other vessels at a ferry terminal on the Tamsui River (淡水河) in the north. Before that, he reportedly sailed the vessel into a harbor near the mouth of the river.

KMT, TPP test limits of democracy

The Liberty Times Editorial

A bill forced through the Legislative Yuan on May 28 by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers to expand the legislature’s power is procedurally unjust. The package of amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) would prohibit government officials from counter-questioning legislators, create a “contempt of the legislature” offense and increase the body’s investigative and examination powers. The changes would even require the president to immediately answer any legislators’ questions after delivering a “state of the nation” report at the Legislative Yuan. The reforms are widely regarded as an excessive expansion of the legislature’s power and an infringement of human rights.

US clarity key in Strait: ex-commander

Taipei Times

Current and former US military leaders are increasingly urging Washington to abandon its long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity” to counter Beijing’s attempts to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday.

“Strategic ambiguity has had its day and it’s time to move to strategic clarity,” retired admiral Harry Harris, former commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told the magazine on the sidelines of the Global Energy Security Talks in Tokyo.

“The Taiwan Relations Act calls for a peaceful resolution and calls for the status quo,” Harris said. “China has changed the status quo and is acting belligerently with regard to Taiwan, so that obligates us to do certain things to help Taiwan.”

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