Former Taitung County commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday declined a nomination from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to serve as Control Yuan vice president.
The announcement came one day after news of the planned appointment sparked criticism across the political spectrum.
Huang said in a video on Facebook that he cared about his reputation “far more than any position” and urged people who were “using [him] as a shield to shift the focus” to stop what they were doing.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The KMT said in a statement that it welcomed Huang’s announcement.
The party said that comments by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members over the past two days showed that Tsai only wanted to use Huang to help turn the focus away from former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Chu (陳菊), instead of “borrowing” talent from the KMT.
Chen, who is expected to be nominated as Control Yuan president, has been involved in three impeachments and more than 50 cases of corrective measures by the Control Yuan, the KMT said.
If Tsai, who doubles as DPP chairperson, believes Huang is suitable for the position, she should defend the nomination, instead of allowing members of her party to attack Huang, the KMT said.
If the DPP needs to “borrow” KMT members to serve in the government, it should discuss the matter with the party, instead of directly approaching its members, it said.
As Huang has withdrawn from the nomination, the KMT would not take disciplinary action against him, the party added.
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said Tsai respected Huang’s decision, adding that the KMT’s talk of a “party-to-party” approach to determine a nominee was not in line with the Constitution.
Tsai’s planned nomination of Huang also drew criticism from the DPP.
The Presidential Office did not communicate with DPP members about Huang’s planned nomination, said a party member, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
DPP Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) said that the nominee for Control Yuan vice president should be first discussed with DPP lawmakers.
A legislative provisional session that was expected to be held after the Dragon Boat Festival holiday could be affected following the Presidential Office’s cancelation on Friday of a news conference at which the nominations for Control Yuan members were to be announced, sources said.
The DPP legislative caucus had planned on calling an extraordinary session as early as June 29 to review a number of topics, including the Control Yuan nominations, the sources said.
DPP caucus secretary-general Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said that if lawmakers are informed about the nominations before the holiday, an extraordinary session could be held following the holiday.
A session could still be held even if the nominations are announced after the holiday, but they would not be included in the agenda, he said, adding that lawmakers would handle other cases first.
A third option is to wait until the nominations are announced to hold the session, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS