Taiwan opposition lawmakers announce plan to impeach Lai Ching-te

TAIPEI, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan opposition lawmakers from the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) announced a plan to impeach the region's leader, Lai Ching-te, at a press conference held in Taipei on Friday.

The action followed Lai's statement to support Cho Jung-tai, chief of the island's executive body, in refusing to countersign amendments to a government revenue allocation law, passed by the legislature earlier.

Fu Kun-chi, KMT's caucus convener in the legislature, said at the press conference that since Lai took the office of Taiwan's leader in May last year, he had been selling out the island's interests and trampling on democracy.

All KMT and TPP lawmakers decided to step forward and speak out for the 23 million people on the island, Fu said. "Lai must be ousted."

"We will officially submit a proposal to impeach Lai," announced TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang at the same press conference.

The opposition will also hold public hearings across the island to explain why the impeachment is necessary and how Lai's actions stalled the enactment of the amended law and thus withheld funds that should have been used for local development and well-being of people, he said.

An impeachment motion against the leader or deputy leader of the Taiwan authorities must first be proposed by at least one half of the total legislature members and approved by a two-thirds majority, and then submitted to the judicial body for review.

The KMT and TPP hold 52 and eight seats in the island's 113-seat legislature, respectively, compared with 51 seats held by the Democratic Progressive Party, as a result of a legislature election in January 2024.