The Presidential Office yesterday announced the list of 15 candidates who President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will nominate to serve as new members of the Council of Grand Justices.
The list of nominees includes three women which the government says shows the value its places on women's rights.
The president also nominated the incumbent Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"The Presidential Office will present the nominees to the Legislative Yuan in late May in order to get the legislators' consent," Chiou said.
The main mission of the Council of Grand Justices, whose term in office is eight years, is interpreting the Constitution and unifying the interpretation of laws and ordinances.
Fifteen new grand justices are scheduled to take office in October.
Only three incumbent grand justices have been nominated by Chen, including Lin Young-mou (
The three women candidates are Supreme Court judge Hsu Pi-hu (
According to constitutional ammendments passed in 2000, the Judicial Yuan shall have 15 grand justices, of which one is the president and another is the vice president of the Judicial Yuan.
The KMT-PFP alliance in the Legislative Yuan announced yesterday that it would approve only 10 of the nominees on the list, saying that the others are pro-DPP and are therefore not qualified because they cannot be impartial and objective.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every