President Chen Shui-bian (
The eight nominees are to succeed the eight grand justices whose terms of office will expire at the end of September, including Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (
terms of office
According to the additional articles of the Constitution, eight grand justices, including the president and the vice president of Judicial Yuan who were appointed in 2003, shall serve four years, while the rest of the grand justices shall serve eight years.
The Chinese-language China Times yesterday quoted an anonymous source as saying that incumbent Grand Justice Lai Ying-jaw (
Wang yesterday refused to comment on the rumored candidates for the Judicial Yuan's president and vice president, but said the next president of the Judicial Yuan would be selected from the seven incumbent grand justices whose terms of office expire in 2011. The next vice president would be one of the eight new nominees, according to Wang.
hasty
A group of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday criticized Chen for not giving the legislature sufficient time to review his nominees of grand justices.
KMT legislative caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (
new session
"I had heard that the KMT would try to put off the review process as long as possible because they wanted to reserve the nomination for KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
Later yesterday, after having a cross-party negotiation meeting, Wang said that legislative caucus whips across party lines had all agreed to review the president's nominees on Sept. 7 when the new session starts.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group