President Lai fine with 'state of nation' report under cross-party consensus

Taipei, Oct. 25 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) is willing to deliver a "state of the nation" report to lawmakers under the precondition that the legislative caucuses across the party lines find a common ground over the matter, despite a court judgement on Friday that says a president is not obliged to do so.

A spokesperson for Lai's office, Karen Kuo (郭雅慧), said the president respects the Constitutional Court's judgement issued on the case which ruled that a raft of law amendments on lawmakers' power was partly unconstitutional, including additional occasions that require a state of the nation report.

Lai also called for other government bodies involved in the case -- the Legislature, the Executive Yuan and the Control Yuan -- to follow suit and protect the constitutional system as well as people's basic rights in Taiwan, according to Kuo.

Although the Additional Articles of the Constitution states that lawmakers may hear such a report from the president, it is not within lawmakers' power to demand and define actions by other government bodies or the president, according to the Constitutional Court's Judgment 113-Hsien-Pan-9 (2024).

The court also ruled as unconstitutional the amendments to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power that specify the procedures of the report's delivery and allow interpellation during the president's report on the legislative floor.

In Friday's judgement, the Constitutional Court cited Article 4 in the Additional Articles of the Constitution, and said it was for the president to decide whether to give such a report, how and when to provide the report and what is covered in the report.

The court also pointed to the original articles in the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power, noting that the Legislature can invite the president to give a state of the nation address on the Legislature's invitation, but the invitation is non-binding.

The president can discuss the delivery with the Legislature out of respect from one constitutional institution to another, the court said.

The amendments to the Criminal Code and the law on the legislative body's power have been widely discussed and debated in Taiwanese society since the current term of the Legislature began its first session in February, Lai said.

Kuo said that with the Constitutional Court's judgment, the president hopes political parties can work with each other to protect the free, democratic constitutional system in Taiwan and build a resilient democracy.

Lai, along with the Executive Yuan, Control Yuan and the legislative caucus of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party brought the case to the Constitutional Court after the amendments passed by the Legislature in May were signed by the president on June 24 and promulgated on June 26.