KMT lawmaker proposes changes to president's martial law powers

Taipei, Dec. 9 (CNA) An opposition lawmaker has proposed changes to Taiwan's Martial Law Act and related regulations that would require Taiwan's Legislature to ratify any presidential declaration of martial law within 56 hours for it to be valid.

According to Article 1 of the Martial Law Act, which has remained unchanged since 1948, any emergency declaration of martial law by the president must be submitted to the Legislative Yuan within one month for ratification. If declared during a parliamentary recess, ratification must occur after the Legislature reconvenes.

In a statement issued Monday, Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said that current provisions pose a threat to Taiwan's democracy.

"This one-month period creates a gray area where the president could abuse the powers, giving them ample time to target political opponents," Hsu said.

Hsu's proposed changes would require the president to formally submit the declaration to the Legislative Yuan within 24 hours of announcing the measure, with lawmakers required to convene a meeting within eight hours to review the president's request.

Lawmakers would then need to ratify the martial law declaration within 24 hours after that, according to the proposal.

Failure to meet these deadlines would automatically nullify the president's martial law order, she said.

The proposal, which Hsu said would also require amending the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power, is expected to be listed for discussion by the parliament's procedure committee Tuesday.

The KMT lawmaker's draft amendments come several days after the DPP was criticized for apparently likening South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's situation to the difficulties faced by the ruling party in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan.

In a quickly-deleted post on social media platform Threads, the account run by the DPP legislative caucus said that Yoon declared martial law "to protect the free constitutional system."

The DPP deleted the post within 20 minutes and replaced it with another statement criticizing Taiwan's martial law era under KMT rule from 1949 to 1987, emphasizing the party "by no means intends to support martial law," though offering no apology for the original post.

At a noon press conference on Monday, Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤), the DPP legislative caucus whip, said that Hsu's proposed amendments were not urgent and reiterated that President and DPP Chairman Lai Ching-te (賴清德) has clearly stated that "democracy cannot regress."

"Right now, we are focused on budget reviews ... No one is considering martial law except the KMT," Wu said. "The KMT should not push this issue too far."