Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
While the attack marked another round of confrontation between the two government bodies, the feud itself highlights an even more important issue -- clarifying the bureau's policies and operations.
The first blow was dealt after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday when Chen said, "Covering up has been an overwhelming problem among high-ranking officials of the investigation bureau. And even the chief of the bureau has been involved."
MJIB Director Wang Kuang-ru (
"I hope Chen will spend more than just four hours understanding what the MJIB's duties are all about," Wang told reporters, speaking outside an academic seminar on DNA testing at the bureau.
Such comments are the tip of an iceberg of dissent between the MJIB and the new justice minister.
In an interview with a local radio news program last Saturday, the minister expressed deep frustration with the lack of control over the powerful bureau, which is assigned the duties of intelligence gathering and criminal investigation, but apparently prioritizes the former over the latter.
Since then, Chen has continued publicly criticizing what he labels the overly-centralized leadership of the bureau, suggesting they have abused their authority by covering up specific criminal cases and by assigning the bureau's agents to assist prosecutors' investigations in cherry-picked investigations.
Normally in complicated criminal cases, the prosecutors would ask agents of the MJIB to assist with investigations.
However, agents of the bureau are required to obtain approval from leaders before they can begin to assist with criminal investigations initiated by a prosecutor or launched within the bureau, thus potentially politicizing their duties.
Chen said prosecutors have long complained that the practice cripples investigations and that some of the reported cases would be "killed" halfway through for political reasons.
While reports over the past few days have focused on the sensational side of the confrontation, the minister explained yesterday his concern is how criminal investigations can be carried out effectively and fairly.
"As far as criminal investigation is concerned, it's evidence that talks. It's not something we should allow a haphazardly assigned group of people to have discretion over," Chen said.
Chen's comments have spurred some prosecutors to call on the public to look beyond the ongoing feud between Wang and Chen and reconsider the policies and operations of the MJIB.
"First, we have to figure out whether the centralization of power in the bureau deters criminal investigations from being carried out effectively. And then we need to think carefully about the possibility of dividing the bureau's duties of intelligence, surveillance and criminal investigation," said Chen Jui-jen (
"As long as the bureau continues to carry out intelligence tasks, we feel it's hopeless to talk about cracking down on corruption in the country," Chen said.
The Ministry of Justice and the MJIB have a long history of power wrangling. Two years ago intense infighting broke out between then Justice Minister Liao Cheng-hao (
Following the fight, a large-scale restructuring of the bureau was carried out. Since then, counter-intelligence tasks against domestic and foreign rivals have been prioritized over the bureau's other major duties, including investigation of violent crime, white-collar crime and corruption.
Opposition and reform groups have long requested that the government place the bureau under public scrutiny and transform it into an agency to protect national interests.
Its intelligence role, they think, should be transferred to the National Security Bureau, the country's highest intelligence organ.
They have suggested the bureau should model itself on the FBI, which underwent dramatic changes in the 1990s and has since focused its efforts on criminal investigation and defending national security.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS