President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominee for Examination Yuan president, John Kuan (關中), yesterday vowed to refrain from participating in events held by political parties if his nomination were approved by the legislature.
During a question-and-answer session with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) in the legislature, Kuan signed an agreement provided by Yang promising to maintain impartiality if he became Examination Yuan president.
The agreement states: “I hereby promise to maintain neutrality during my term as president of the Examination Yuan. [I] will immediately withdraw from all political activities in a bid to ensure the impartiality of the Examination Yuan.”
However, he added that signing the agreement did not mean he would quit his KMT membership.
Kuan, 68, has served as vice president of the Examination Yuan. He resigned as KMT vice chairman after being informed of his nomination for the government branch’s top job.
He brushed aside claims that his position was a reward for his campaign efforts during the presidential election.
The Legislative Yuan yesterday began a review of the president’s nomination of Kuan, Chern Jinn-lih (陳進利) as vice president of the Control Yuan and three other members of the Control Yuan.
The legislature is scheduled to vote on the five nominees tomorrow.
The legislature has already approved Ma’s nomination of Wang Chien-shien as president of the Control Yuan and Wu Chin-lin (伍錦霖) as vice president of the Examination Yuan.
The legislature has also approved 24 of the 27 nominated Control Yuan members, as well as all 19 Examination Yuan nominees.
Kuan said yesterday that he would do his best to push through the pending draft public official standards bill, draft administrative officers law and draft public officials impartiality bill to establish a better administrative system if his nomination were approved.
He also defended the government’s plans to give recognition to Chinese academic credentials.
“President Ma is concerned that there are some 7,000 Taiwanese students studying in China. If we don’t recognize their degrees from schools in China, they will not be able to participate in any of our national examinations. This would be a big loss for us,” Kuan said.
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