President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has nominated Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairperson Chang Po-ya (張博雅) to be president of the Control Yuan, looking to make her the first female head of one of the five branches of the government, local media reported last night.
Ma also nominated former Council of Indigenous Peoples minister Sun Ta-chuan (孫大川) as vice president of the Control Yuan, the government watchdog, local media reports said.
Chang is a veteran politician, having served as interior minister, Chiayi mayor, a legislator and minister of the now-defunct department of health.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The 71-year-old was designated CEC chairperson in 2010 and her term is due to expire on Nov. 3 this year.
If approved, Chang’s nomination would dash the renomination hopes of Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊), who has made several controversial remarks during his six-year tenure, such as describing college students who take on part-time work as “very stupid.”
Meanwhile, local media also reported that Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) has been promoted from vice president to Examination Yuan president, while Examination Yuan member Kao Yuang-kuang (高永光) has been appointed to succeed him.
A former secretary-general at the Presidential Office and a former deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), of which Ma is chairman, Wu has played an important role in Ma’s political career.
Wu was put in charge of formulating strategies for Ma’s first presidential campaign in central and southern Taiwan in 2008. He also campaigned for the president when Ma sought re-election in 2012.
Wu served as Examination Yuan interim president between September and November 2008.
Under the Constitution, the president is entitled to nominate the president and vice president of the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan.
The nominations have to be approved by the Legislative Yuan.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
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SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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