00:00Taiwan's political scene is reeling from an unprecedented move by the country's premier.
00:06On Monday, Zhu Rongtai refused to countersign a local government funding bill passed by the legislature,
00:13stopping it from taking effect.
00:15The ruling Democratic Progressive Party says the move is legally sound,
00:18but the opposition says it's undemocratic.
00:30Now, many are left wondering, will the government continue using the same play to roadblock legislation it doesn't agree with?
00:37Reporters asked President Lai that question on his way to an event in Taipei, but it went unanswered.
00:48They were referring to public sector pension reform, a hotly contested issue in Taiwan.
00:54The legislature wants to roll back changes made by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in 2016.
01:01Lai says he doesn't support that move.
01:04He says the reforms are necessary for the country's financial health.
01:08The premier has not said whether he'd refuse to countersign that bill,
01:32but one analyst says that relying too heavily on that move could be a double-edged sword for the DPP.
01:39The more they lean into this, the more it just sort of feeds into a blue-white narrative of the DPP
01:45taking non-democratic actions and, you know, quote-unquote abusing powers that they have.
01:52On the streets of Taipei, public reaction to the premier's actions has been mixed.
01:57There aren't many paths forward from this impasse.
02:15Taiwan's constitutional court is currently paralyzed because there aren't enough justices to reach a quorum.
02:21The legislature has blocked the president's nominees on multiple occasions.
02:26On the other hand, the opposition could remove Zhuo in a vote of no confidence.
02:32But he could then ask the president to dissolve the legislature.
02:36That might put the opposition's majority at risk.
02:39With such limited options on the table, this political deadlock looks unlikely to be broken soon.
02:45Scott Huang and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.
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