Saying that Control Yuan member positions should not be allotted solely on the basis of party affiliation, incoming Control Yuan president Wang Chien-shien yesterday called on all political party heavyweights to keep their hands off President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominations for Control Yuan members.
After the legislature voted down Ma’s nominee for deputy head of the Control Yuan Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) and Control Yuan member nominees Chen Yao-chang (陳耀昌), Hsu Ping-chin (許炳進) and Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), the Presidential Office had said Ma would name four new nominees in September.
Wang made the remarks in response to allegations that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which together with the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union holds a three-quarter majority in the legislature, voted down the four because they were unhappy that some pan-blue politicians had not been included in Ma’s nomination list.
Wang expressed his regret at the rejections, saying that both the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had voted for the nominees in the spirit of bipartisanship.
A founder of the pro-unification New Party, Wang said: “Was I so bad that I would not receive a single vote from the DPP?”
Wang said he was surprised that Yu, a human rights lawyer who specializes on women’s rights, was not supported by the KMT lawmakers, saying that: “Color [whether the nominee is pan-green or pan-blue] was the only concern of lawmakers.”
Chen, who expressed his support for DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), was also considered a pan-green nominee, as he was a DPP member.
Chen left the DPP in 2006 over a series of alleged corruption scandals involving former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) family and inner circle.
Rumors have circulated that the rejection of the four was because KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) was unhappy with Ma, who did not nominate the three People First Party (PFP) members PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) wished to see on the list.
The three members were former PFP lawmakers Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) and Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) — who both yielded their candidacies to their KMT counterparts after the two parties negotiated joint candidates for the January legislative elections — and Soong’s long-term aide and party secretary-general, Ma Chieh-ming (馬傑明).
Dismissing the allegations, KMT legislative caucus whip Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said that Hsu was rejected because he had concealed his tax evasion record in a caucus questionnaire, while Chen was turned down because of his lack of understanding of the Control Yuan’s authority.
Wu said Shen’s failure was partly attributed to some negative votes from the DPP, of which Shen was formerly a member. The KMT disqualified Yu as a Control Yuan member because of complaints received by the KMT caucus received concerning her integrity, Wu said.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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