The Control Yuan is to carry out an investigation of National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), who has made controversial visits to intelligence units and police investigation agencies in recent months, that critics say infringe on others agencies’ jurisdiction.
Lin Hsien-tung (林憲同), the lawyer who filed the complaint against King to the Control Yuan requesting the watchdog to carry out an investigation, yesterday said he had received an official reply from the former Control Yuan president.
“Control Yuan president Wang Chien-shien (王建煊), on July 31, the final day of his tenure, sent a formal letter to the NSC requesting them to explain the details of King’s visits to these agencies, and asked about authorization for the visits and the legal basis for his actions,” Lin said.
“According to Article 2 of the Organic Act of the National Security Council (國家安全會議組織法), the NSC is an ‘advisory body’ to provide guidance and consultation to the Presidential Office on major policy directions,” Lin said. “This means the NSC is a type of assembly-meeting body, with the president acting as its chairman. When the president makes policies, decisions by NSC are used only for reference.”
That means the NSC is an “internal advisory body” and it does not have independent administrative authority over external functions, Lin said.
“There is a National Security Bureau [NSB], aside from the NSC. The NSC and the NSB operate at different levels in the government structure and have their own different functions. The two bodies must not be confused regarding their roles,” Lin said.
He said that the NSC secretary-general is mandated by the president to coordinate and provide guidance on NSC functions and supervise the council’s personnel, according to Article 6 of the Organic Act of the National Security Council.
“The NSC secretary-general does not have independent authority over the NSB, the National Police Agency, the Bureau of Investigation or other intelligence bodies. Therefore, King has no authority to make such visits to these agencies. What King did was in violation of the Constitution and he is sabotaging our governmental system,” Lin said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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