Lawmaker Recall Petitions Gain Momentum in Taiwan

TaiwanPlus News

The battle by Taiwan's two major political parties to unseat each other's lawmakers is getting larger and messier, posing even more challenges to an already politically embattled President Lai Ching-te.

Transcript

00:00Extradition of pro-China parties. Restore the unity of Congress.

00:09Pushing to recall en masse lawmakers from Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang

00:14or KMT, who this civil society group says are undermining the country's democracy.

00:21But what they are doing today is beyond the scope of restoring the unity of Congress.

00:26They are corrupting the administration and even taking over the administration.

00:31This is not the same as the people's right to vote.

00:38Recalling lawmakers is the latest battle in a political war between the KMT and the ruling

00:43Democratic Progressive Party or the DPP, who want to shift the balance of power in the

00:49country's legislature, currently in the hands of the KMT and other opposition lawmakers

00:53after they slashed the DPP government's budget.

00:57It's causing a political crisis for the party head and president, Lai Ching-de, who called

01:02a first-of-its-kind meeting with the heads of all five branches of government, including

01:06the legislature, urging unity.

01:10Under these challenges, Taiwan must be united.

01:14Only when we are united do we have the strength to strengthen national defense, develop the economy,

01:20build up the resilience of the whole society, and stand closely with the democratic camp

01:27can we respond to the changing situation.

01:31Lai faces an uphill battle in breaking this political deadlock.

01:35The two parties fundamentally disagree on what sort of relationship Taiwan should have

01:40with neighboring China.

01:42The DPP firmly rejects China's claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, while the KMT prefers closer

01:47ties with Beijing, says Lai and his party are provoking war across the strait, and that

01:52the DPP is working with civil society groups to fuel the recall campaign with false accusations.

01:59At the landmark meeting of top government leaders, KMT heavyweight Han Kuo-yu said the

02:04ball was in Lai's court.

02:19Putting Lai in a particularly difficult situation.

02:22President Lai is not only the president, he's also chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party.

02:27So if he really wanted to, he could say that the party doesn't support these recall motions

02:34Nominally, these efforts are run by civil society groups.

02:38It's not run by the party.

02:40But Ko Jianming, who's the head of the DPP's legislative caucus in the legislative unit,

02:46has been an outspoken supporter of these recall efforts.

02:50Taiwan's divided government, with the president's office and the legislature in the hands of

02:54different parties, is causing some of the biggest political drama here in years.

02:59Drama that Lai Ching-de is now under growing pressure to put to an end.

03:04Howard Jang and Rick Lowatt for Taiwan Plus.

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