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• Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) Program Cut Short Controversy

  • It is rumored that former President Chen Shui-bian's new program, "President Speaks Through the Mirror," was ordered by President of the Executive Yuan Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to be "not broadcast in exchange for not being imprisoned," leading to the program's abrupt cancellation.
  • Chen Shui-bian has been granted medical parole, which has been extended 43 times. However, he frequently violated Taichung Prison's "five prohibitions" (including no public speeches, no interviews, no participation in political activities, etc.). The suspension of this program is seen as him hitting a sensitive spot.

• DPP Legislator Lin Yi-chin's (林宜瑾) Amendment to Cross-Strait Act Sparks Controversy

  • Democratic Progressive Party, DPP Legislator Lin Yi-chin proposed amending the "Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area." This move was criticized as a "one side, one country" legislative revision, aiming to substantively adjust the cross-strait status.
  • New Power Party, NPP Legislator Huang Kuo-Chang (黃國昌) criticized Lin Yi-chin's proposal for "making a laughing stock of themselves."
  • This proposal was likened to the historical event in 2020 when DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) proposed a constitutional amendment to delete the words "national unification" but ultimately withdrew the proposal.
  • Veteran media personality Hsieh Han-bing (謝寒冰) sarcastically urged Lin Yi-chin to "please stick to it to the end," implying that similar DPP proposals often start strong but finish weak.

• General Budget Bill Extortion Controversy

  • The General Budget Bill encountered obstruction from opposition parties. President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) stated in response, "not for the monk's sake, but for the Buddha's sake," which was interpreted by some as applying pressure or emotional blackmail on the opposition.
  • Taiwan People's Party, TPP Party Chairperson Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) pointed out that the stalled budget bill reflects the Lai administration's problem of being "too dogmatic."

• Constitutional Court's "Five Elders" Ruling Controversy

  • The Constitutional Court, composed of five Grand Justices, issued a ruling that sparked questions in the legal community regarding its procedural justice and the validity of its judgments.
  • Critics pointed out that the "five-member panel court" is accused of specifically selecting certain cases for Constitutional Interpretation and continuously "excluding" what it called "impurities" among other Grand Justices, leading to the Constitutional Court's impartiality being undermined.

• Implications of US Intervention in Venezuela for Taiwan's Geopolitics

  • US President Trump (川普) claimed that he swiftly took down the Venezuelan President and arrested Maduro (馬杜洛) within 8 hours, with US forces temporarily taking over the country.
  • The New York Times questioned whether this US action was an illegal act and not in America's own interest.
  • Some American scholars analyzed that the model of the US swiftly taking over Venezuela could become a potential "template" for China's actions against Taiwan.
  • DPP Legislator Shen Po-yang (沈伯洋) refuted this, pointing out that Taiwan's situation is different from Venezuela's, and criticized that "if you can do it, so can I" is finding excuses for acts of aggression.
  • The program questioned whether Trump attacked Venezuela for oil interests, and in contrast, what concrete benefits does "protecting Taiwan" hold for the US?
  • It further questioned the DPP administration's contradictory logic: on one hand mocking China's military equipment as boastful, yet on the other hand allocating a defense budget as high as NT$1.25 trillion to "protect Taiwan."