00:00In one move, Taiwan Premier Zhou Rongtai has stopped a bill in his tracks.
00:18His ruling Democratic Progressive Party says the bill would force the central government
00:22to give way more money to local governments than it can afford, adding to the country's debt.
00:28So Zhou is choosing not to countersign, something experts say is the last resort to keep a law
00:34from taking effect.
00:35But before Zhou, no other Premier had used this approach to block a bill already passed by the legislature.
01:01Some ask lawmakers to reconsider the bill, meaning to hold a re-vote.
01:06But when opposition parties hold a majority in the legislature, as they do now,
01:10they can just vote to pass the bill again.
01:13Another option is to ask the constitutional court for an interpretation.
01:17But a new rule increasing the number of judges needed to make a ruling
01:21has left the court in limbo for a year.
01:24With Chuo's refusal to countersign,
01:26the legislature can now choose to initiate a no-confidence motion against him.
01:31If it passes, he'd be forced to resign.
01:34But he can also ask the president to dissolve the legislature.
01:37But some say a no-confidence vote is not likely.
01:41At this point, it doesn't look like the KMT or the TPP are going to go for that option.
01:46The risk for them politically is that this goes to the president
01:52and the president can then dissolve the legislature.
01:57And then the legislature has to go to re-election.
02:03Since Chuo's move is unprecedented,
02:05it's hard to predict what will happen next
02:08in a fight that could shake up Taiwan's political landscape.
02:12Alex Chen, Alan Liu and Irene Lin for Taiwan Plus.
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