Legislature passes resolution inviting president to deliver address

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) Taiwan's Legislature passed a resolution on Tuesday inviting President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) to deliver a state of the nation address to the Legislative Yuan and respond to lawmakers' questions following the address.

The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) caucuses initially proposed inviting the president to deliver a state of nation address before the premier addresses the Legislature on the policies of the government, separately in May, in accordance with the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power.

However, the proposals came in the wake of amendments to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power being signed into law on June 24 by President Lai, after the opposition-controlled Legislature pushed them through the lawmaking body in an effort to strengthen its oversight powers.

The proposals were voted on by the Legislature Tuesday, as no consensus was reached in cross-caucus negotiations.

The passed resolution invites the president in accordance with the newly-amended law to make the address and respond to lawmakers' questions, with the form of the questioning such as how much time each lawmaker has, how many lawmakers can ask questions, the order of the questioning, and party proportionality to be decided by further cross-caucus negotiations.

However, whether the president can be questioned by lawmakers under Taiwan's current constitutional framework, has been questioned and a ruling from the Constitutional Court is currently being sought by the government.

The Presidential Office said on Tuesday evening that the Constitutional Court is listening to arguments on the constitutionality of the amendments and also a case in which an injunction is being sought to halt enforcement of the new amendments.

It is not appropriate for any constitutional institution to take action before decisions are made by the Constitutional Court, said Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧).

The president also said earlier that he would deliver the address to the Legislature only after a ruling on the constitutionality of the amendments was made by the Constitutional Court.

Lai made the comment shortly after he signed the amendments into law. He also announced a plan to seek a ruling from the Constitutional Court, which was formally filed on June 28.