President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced her nominees for the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan, saying that she was confident they would enhance judicial reforms.
Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission Chief Commissioner Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) was picked to succeed Rai Hau-min (賴浩敏) as president and Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Chin-fang (林錦芳) to succeed Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) as vice president.
They were also named to the Council of Grand Justices.
Tsai made the nominations after accepting the resignations of Rai and Su, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.
“Lai and Su offered their resignations, both verbally and in writing, shortly after Tsai was sworn in on May 20 to let Tsai make her own personnel arrangements in the judicial system. The president has expressed her gratitude and appreciation of their dedication and hard work,” Huang said.
Tsai had sought the opinions of legal professionals before making the nominations, Huang said.
The nominations now go to the Legislative Yuan for approval.
Hsieh has served in the prosecutorial system and the Judicial Yuan for many years and has put forward ideas for judicial reform, Huang said.
“Judicial reform is the next priority of the Judicial Yuan,” he said. “The president believes that Hsieh’s experience will be helpful to the government’s promotion of reforms and advancement of the judicial system, as it could ensure smooth communication within the Judicial Yuan while building the public’s trust in the judicial system.”
Lin is the first woman in the Republic of China’s history to be nominated to be vice president of the Judicial Yuan.
“Tsai’s nomination of Lin is aimed at tapping female judicial talent and increasing the percentage of female grand justices, which underscores the president’s determination to implement gender equality,” Huang said.
He downplayed a complaint from New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), who said he could not accept Lin’s nomination on the grounds that she was secretary-general of the Judicial Yuan when it promoted the controversial “observer jury system” in 2010.
“The system was promoted by Su during his term… Lin did not share Su’s opinions on the system, nor did she approve of it,” Alex Huang said.
In other developments, the Presidential Office released the guidelines for establishment of a preparatory committee for national affairs conferences on judicial reform.
The guidelines say that judicial experts would constitute less than half of the committee’s 15 to 21 seats, which are to be filled by representatives from the government, civic groups and other organizations.
“The limit on the number of judicial experts is meant to ensure larger participation by civic groups, representatives of disadvantaged groups and academics in other fields as part of the government’s reform efforts,” Alex Huang said.
Quoting Tsai’s inaugural address, he said the judicial system must respond to the public’s needs and should be designed for everyone, not just legal professionals.
The committee has four missions: Gathering opinions from all sectors of society regarding judicial reform; endeavoring to reach a consensus and determine the direction of judicial reform; holding a national affairs conference on judicial reform; and giving counsel to the president on matters concerning judicial reform, the spokesman said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS