Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥), who was sworn into office yesterday, refused to give definitive comments about whether the ministry would lift an unofficial suspension on carrying out death sentences.
Tsai said he has been in office for less than a day and needs to thoroughly consider the facts and weigh public opinion carefully before making a decision.
Tsai said his experience as Investigation Bureau director-general gives him a greater understanding of the proper integration of criminal investigation and prosecution.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
He is the first person to move from the bureau position to minister of justice.
At his swearing-in ceremony, Tsai said he hopes members of the ministry will be motivated in their work by idealism, a sense of mission and passion.
The five subordinate services of prosecutors, investigators, anti-corruption officers, administrative enforcement agents and corrections officers must coordinate their actions and resources in the war on crime, drugs, telecom fraud and electoral fraud, he said.
Separately yesterday, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said his appointment to the post is not related to the nine-in-one elections in November.
The Ministry of the Interior is to focus on the tasks of urban renewal and social housing, as well as narcotics enforcement and public safety, to ensure an orderly and safe society, Hsu said.
“I come to the ministry on my own because I feel total confidence in the people of this ministry and have no need to bring staff,” he said.
Elsewhere, Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Hu Zhong-yi (胡忠一) vowed to balance the production and sale of domestic crops and increase collaboration with farmers’ groups.
As the agency has been plagued by plunging prices due to oversupply, balancing crop production and supply is expected to be a challenge.
At the handover ceremony at the agency’s main office in Nantou County’s Jhongsing New Village (中興新村), Hu said he would promote new agriculture models and turn domestic agriculture into “a technological, secure, profitable and sustainable industry.”
Hu presented eight plans to boost the competitiveness of domestic agriculture, including improving information systems for crop supply and demand; reviewing the nation’s tariff quotas for crops; seeking diverse ways to process crops; and setting up more cooling and logistics systems to reduce the loss of crops during delivery.
Also, he plans to help farmers replace less competitive crops or ones in oversupply with others; encourage more farmers to adopt organic and eco-friendly farming and join the council’s traceability agricultural product system; establish a strategic alliance among the agency, local farmers’ groups and other marketing channels; and adjust the market structure of agricultural products.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
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