Representatives of the public yesterday clashed over President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) follow-up nominations of Control Yuan members, with members of the pan-blue camp calling the nominations biased.
The Legislative Yuan held a hearing to solicit views from the public on nominations to fill 11 seats left vacant after 29 members retired in 2014 during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term.
Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), a lawyer for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), targeted nominee Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), who served as Presidential Office secretary-general under then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Chen Shih-meng allegedly said that, if approved, he would purge certain law enforcers whom he deemed to be “leftovers from the party-state era,” which shows that he has a distinct political stance, Yeh said.
He urged the DPP to rescind Chen Shih-meng’s nomination and called on him to decline the position.
Yeh also disputed Tsai’s nominations of former Taipei Department of Legal Affairs commissioner Yang Fang-ling (楊芳玲) and former DPP legislators Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and Walis Perin.
Yang served less than three years as a commissioner under Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and before that was a professor, suggesting that she lacks experience in politics and the credibility to serve as a Control Yuan member, Yeh said.
Regarding Tien and Walis Perin, the DPP should clarify whether the party treats the Control Yuan as a “recycle bin” for former lawmakers, he said.
During a cross-caucus negotiation last week, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) called the Control Yuan a KMT affiliate and said that the purpose of the nominations was to “even out” the negative influence exerted by incumbent members nominated by Ma, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology law professor Wu Wei-chih (吳威志) said.
Ker’s remarks showed that the 11 nominees are tasked with a “political mission,” Wu said, adding that as the DPP believes the Control Yuan to be a KMT affiliate, it should ask the Executive Yuan’s Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee to investigate the Control Yuan rather than nominate new members.
However, until the constitutional system is amended, having too many vacancies at the Control Yuan could have negative consequences, National Chung Cheng University College of Law dean Liu Chien-hung (劉建宏) said.
Yang, lawyer Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠) and former judge Tsai Chung-yi’s (蔡崇義) nominations would help resolve long-standing national issues, as they all have legal backgrounds, he said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The