High-ranking politicians from both sides of Taiwan's legislature are threatening to hold rallies to call for mass recalls of opposing lawmakers. It's the latest escalation of rhetoric in an ongoing disagreement over a series of constitutional reforms set to reshape Taiwan's political landscape.
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00:00Political rifts are widening in Taiwan as the ruling party's caucus whip rallies
00:05to recall a whopping two-thirds of opposition lawmakers. Democratic
00:10Progressive Party whip Ko Jianming made the call at a press conference on
00:14Saturday, saying the opposition, which controls the legislature, have been
00:18acting against the constitution by forcing through bills with a political agenda.
00:30The Kuomintang, with support from the Taiwan People's Party and two
00:40independents, hold a combined maturity in the legislature. The 41 legislators
00:45targeted by Ke make up all the opposition's publicly elected lawmakers
00:50and are thus subject to recall laws. The other 21 opposition legislators were
00:55elected through party votes. Ke and the wider DPP have vocally opposed a slew
01:01of opposition-led constitutional amendments, which they have been
01:04powerless to stop. This includes changes to the legislature's investigative
01:09powers, recall measures, and government funding allocations. KMT lawmakers are
01:15calling Ke's plan absurd.
01:26And on Sunday morning, another high-level KMT official, Wang Hongwei,
01:33accused the DPP of a premeditated coordinated attack, saying they're ready
01:38to respond with their own attempts to recall DPP legislatures. And now with
01:43both sides of the political spectrum threatening to rally the public to oust
01:47lawmakers, the political chasm here in Taiwan will stretch even wider, with
01:52rhetoric set to fly all the way up until Lunar New Year celebrations later
01:56this month. Alex Chen, Reese Ayres, and Harrell Hughes for Taiwan Plus.