Lawmakers from both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday expressed disapproval of Council of Grand Justices nominee Chen Be-yue (陳碧玉) because of the US green card she once held during her stint as a Supreme Court judge.
A number of KMT lawmakers yesterday called on Chen to decline President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nomination, while DPP urged Ma to nominate a new list altogether.
“As President Ma has not yet sent the nominations to the legislature for approval, they might as well [drop] the entire list,” said DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), in light of the controversies surrounding Ma’s grand justice nominees.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Following the sudden change of grand justice nominee Supreme Court Judge Shao Yen-ling (邵燕玲), who declined Ma’s nomination after a media uproar over her role in a controversial child molestation ruling, Chen was the latest nominee to find herself at the center of controversy.
Insisting she made no secret of first holding US citizenship and then a US green card, Chen told a press conference on Thursday that she relinquished the US citizenship that she obtained in 1992 in October 1996, soon after the Judicial Yuan reinstated her as a judge, a position she resigned from in 1983.
Chen said she acquired a US green card in January 2008 when she served in the Supreme Court because she needed to fly to the US to help her daughter and two-year-old granddaughter. She said she renounced the permanent residence status in September the following year.
At the press conference, she showed a passport page and US immigration documents proving that she gave up the green card in September 2009, before she was -considered for the grand justice role.
The Central Personnel Administration said in a press statement that Chen had not broken any laws because the Nationality Act (國籍法) does not prohibit people who have permanent residence status in foreign countries from serving in public office and that Chen had renounced her US nationality when she served as a judge.
The Nationality Act stipulates that holders of dual citizenship must surrender their foreign citizenship before assuming public office.
However, KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) yesterday said it was a “serious flaw” that a Taiwanese Supreme Court judge was a US green card holder.
“I can’t bring myself to vote and approve her nomination,” he said.
“That Chen held dual nationality and a US green card showed that she has no faith in Taiwan, whatever her motivations,” Ting added. “[Her eligibility] to be grand justice is in question.”
KMT caucus whip Hsieh Kuo--liang (謝國樑) said it was “inappropriate to a certain extent” to confirm a grand justice nominee who once held either US nationality or a US green card.
“I have heard people talking about the matter. People have some concerns, and I am thinking about this,” KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) added. “As grand justices hold the highest position in the judiciary, the legislature has to screen their eligibility with the strictest attitudes and by applying the highest standard.”
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), meanwhile, demanded that Judicial Yuan President Rai Hau-min (賴浩敏) resign to take responsibility for having recommended Chen and Shao.
The row surrounding Chen has also led to renewed questions about the US green card that Ma also once held, with DPP lawmakers calling the two cases “very similar.”
“The type of president we have defines the type of judge he nominates. Under his values, he thinks nothing of the fact that [Chen Be-yue] once held a US green card,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said. “She’s unsuitable as a nominee.”
Standing by its nomination of Chen however, the Presidential Office yesterday argued that Chen had given up her US permanent residency.
Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) quoted Ma as saying that the nomination of Chen was a “proper decision” because she had given up her US residency and did not cover up the truth.
Another grand justice nominee, Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發), who was also reported by media yesterday as having held permanent residency from Canada, also gave up the residency before the nomination, Lo said.
NO VIOLATION
“Both nominees did not violate any laws and clearly stated the situation in the nomination reference … It’s not fair to accuse her of having moral flaws,” he said.
The nomination task force gave great reviews of Chen and the other three nominees and the president hoped the public would focus on the overall performance of the nominees, Lo added.
Under Taiwan’s judicial system, grand justices are authorized to interpret the Constitution and unify the interpretation of laws and ordinances.
TERM TIMES
The terms of four of the 15 incumbent Constitutional Court Grand Justices — Hsu Pi-hu (徐璧湖) Lin Tzu-yi (林子儀), Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) and Hsu Yu-hsiu (許玉秀) —will end on Sept. 30.
According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the president should nominate and appoint, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan, four new justices to fill the posts.
NOMINATIONS
Aiming to have the new justices take the bench on Oct. 1 as required by law, Ma has previously said that he hopes the legislature will deal with nominations before its summer recess at the end of May.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH AND CNA
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
RSS