News of the Week (April 19–24, 2007)

News of the Week

April 19–24, 2007


1.On April 17, the Procedure Committee of the Legislative Yuan put a draft amendment to Article 26 of the “Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act”－a so-called “Ma Ying-jeou clause”－proposed by the DPP legislative caucus, on to the agenda of the Yuan Plenary Session on April 20. However, after several rounds of consultation between the KMT and the People First Party, its ally, the PFP decided to support the KMT’s motion to adjorn the Session that day; therefore, the amendment was not reviewed, but returned to the Procedure Committee.

2.Wu Den-yih, KMT secretary-general, announced that a deal reached by the KMT and the PFP on the dawn of April 20 included two important agreements: (1) After selecting their respective legislative candidates, the two parties will coordinate the quota of each party’s at-large legislators. Then if a consensus is reached, the two parties will register the list of at-large legislators under the name of the KMT only to the Central Election Commission. The PFP will not register any at-large legislators under its own name. This will be a virtual first step towards a merger of the two parties. (2) The two parties will officially merge at the conclusion of the Sixth Legislature, which will be January 31, 2008, following consultation.

3.Former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou completed his registration formalities for the KMT Presidential primary with 215,168 signatures of party members on April 21. He said that to run for the presidency despite defamation is not for his personal wealth or political power, but for the future of Taiwan. Once elected, he will use the powers given by the Constitution and laws to create a “liberal, optimistic, open, tolerant, and pioneering” Taiwan, a forward moving Taiwan!

4.In the DPP primary, Premier Su Tseng-chang questioned Frank Hsieh that if he was as capable in “maneuvering” as he described himself, the arms procurement bill would not be sticking in the Legislative Yuan. As a matter of fact, Hsieh responded, he had already “maneuvered” with opposition lawmakers at that time on this issue, but the deal died because “some people” changed their minds at the last minute. The Hsieh camp explained that Hsieh originally secured the cooperation of eight legislators from the Non-Party Solidarity Alliance and the Pan-Blue camp to support the arms procurement bill in exchange of the support by the DPP caucus for the gambling bill. However, because the New Tide Movement, the largest faction of the DPP, opposed the gambling bill, this plan was eventually abandoned.

5.On April 21, President Chen Shui-bian said that building a freeway system around the whole island was the government’s fixed policy, and the building of the Suao-Hualien freeway was necessary. However, Chen said this construction project would certainly be dropped if it failed a environmental review. In response to President Chen’s statement, heavyweights from different circles, including environmental groups, arts groups and hotelier Stanley Yen, all reiterated their opposition to the construction of the Suao-Hualien freeway, adding that their stance would not change. Even Lee Yuan-tseh, former president of Academia Sinica and Dharma Master Cheng Yen of the Tzu Chi Foundation also expressed their opposition.

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