President Lai to hold talks with heads of government branches

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) will hold talks with the heads of Taiwan's five government branches on Feb. 10, ostensibly to address political challenges, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said Friday.

In a brief statement, Kuo said the president was scheduled to meet with the branch heads at 3 p.m. Feb. 10 to discuss issues related to Taiwan in light of "the severe challenges posed by the political and economic situation at home and abroad."

She said the meeting would aim to foster agreement and cooperation between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and the opposition, ensuring better implementation of government policies.

Currently, the government branch heads are Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Acting Judicial Yuan President Shieh Ming-yan (謝銘洋), Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊), and Examination Yuan President Chou Hung-hsien (周弘憲).

Among the five, Han is from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) while Cho and Chen are affiliated with the DPP.

Hsieh was appointed as a Constitutional Court justice by previous President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the DPP and confirmed by the DPP-led Legislature in 2019, while Chou was appointed by Lai and confirmed in a bipartisan vote in 2024.

Given that only one of the five branches are led by a member of the opposition, it was unclear what Lai actually hopes to accomplish with this meeting.

Lai, who also chairs the DPP, and Han previously met last month at the Presidential Office in a bid to resolve party differences, but the meeting did not seem to achieve any breakthroughs.

KMT Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said later Friday that as a legislative speaker, Han was responsible for mediating disputes among legislative caucuses while upholding the principle of neutrality and could do little more than relay Lai's message to legislators.

She said that if the president intended to resolve party differences, he should have invited the chairs of the DPP and the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) as well as party caucus leaders to the meeting.

Lai's previous meeting with Han and the Feb. 10 encounter is being held amid ongoing standoffs between the DPP and the main opposition parties over several pieces of legislation passed by lawmakers.

The KMT has 52 seats in the Legislature, the DPP has 51, the TPP has eight, and there are two independents ideologically aligned with the KMT in the 113-seat body.

With the KMT and TPP teaming up, they have been able to thwart DPP initiatives while passing bills the government has opposed. Neither side has shown much, if any, interest in compromise.

The sparring between the two sides has also extended to judicial disputes and spilled over into the public sphere, with DPP members encouraging initiatives seeking to recall many of the elected lawmakers from the KMT.

To date, campaigners have submitted initial recall petitions for 18 KMT lawmakers. The KMT has started to retaliate and submitted an initial recall petition for one DPP lawmaker so far.