A bitter row has erupted over the administrative independence of Control Yuan members after the head of the government branch reportedly told one member to tone down his act.
Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) was singled out by senior officials during a recent meeting because of his far-reaching probe into the health insurance system, the Chinese--language United Daily News reported yesterday.
Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) reportedly said during the meeting that members should not “tire out” government officials and that a problem can normally be identified within asking three questions.
Those remarks unleashed a storm of controversy over the role and independence of the Control Yuan, which investigates and acts on complaints issued against the government.
Huang was quoted by local media as saying that his interviews, which included 102 meetings with top health officials and transcripts from more than 3,000 doctors, were justified given the importance and severity of the investigation.
The final report included 410,000 characters, had recommendations for health officials and was lauded by the Department of Health, Huang said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday spoke out in favor of Huang’s efforts, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers appeared to agree with Wang’s call for moderation.
“[Wang] should not be interfering with the independence of Control Yuan members as they go about doing their legally appointed duties,” DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said.
Wang’s comments were a violation of the Constitution and posed serious challenges for the impartiality of the institution that administratively is on par with the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan, Gao said.
“If their attitude is that the members who actually do work should be [deterred], then the Control Yuan might just as well close up,” DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said.
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) countered that Huang’s health insurance report was a special case and the number of interviews he conducted with senior government officials was “unprecedented.”
“I respect the right of Control Yuan members to do their job, but they should not be unrestricted,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to have them deploy hundreds and thousands of [hours of] human resources to do their job.”
Responding to the controversy, Control Yuan Secretary-General Chen Feng-yi (陳豐義) said that members should try and keep the “difficulties” they pose to senior government officials to a minimum.
However, he denied the Control Yuan would interfere with the impartiality of members and their investigative reports.
“The Control Yuan president supports the independence of reports 100 percent,” Chen said.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant