President Chen Shui-bian (
Investigations, legal reviews and verdicts involving politicians have been questioned by both the pan-blue and pan-green camps, leading to much criticism about unfairness and political intervention in the process. As a result, the public has once again begun to call for judicial reform.
Among other things, judicial reform should be based in how judicial officials are selected. Changing the attitudes and behavior of the large number of existing judicial officials is a difficult project.
A faster and more effective road to judicial reform is to ensure that the grand justices who lead the system have a solid professional grounding. Bringing about change among other judges and prosecutors starts with this.
Eight new grand justices are about to be appointed, together with a new Judicial Yuan president and vice president. This is a rare opportunity for reform.
It is crucial that these appointments are not blocked like the Control Yuan appointments were. Nor should legislators use political motives to appoint unfit candidates who will block judicial reform.
Before legislators vote for the nominees, a few flaws in the process must be pointed out.
First, the legislature's hearings have been excessively political in nature, with pan-blue legislators asking a few supposedly pro-green-camp nominees questions about their relationships with the president and their opinions of Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (
These legislators wasted a precious opportunity to inquire about the nominees' legal education, trial experience, record of decisions and views on upcoming judicial issues.
Second, although the grand justice nominee review and the nomination of Control Yuan members differ in timing and in the nature of the positions, the two issues have merged in light of political competition and skulduggery.
The pan-blue camp will only pass the grand justice nominations in exchange for the passage of its Control Yuan nomination list, while the pan-green camp will only pass the Control Yuan list if the passage of their grand justice list is guaranteed. This has turned the review into a bargaining chip for backstage negotiations.
Due to the lack of trust between the two camps, the technical issue of whether the nominees should be voted for individually or as a group has degenerated into a source of conflict.
The grand justices are the protectors of the Constitution and have the potential to initiate judicial reform. As the legislature will vote on the nominations tomorrow, legislators need to understand that partisan political concerns should have no bearing on whether or not the nominees as a group should be confirmed.
The new grand justices and the Judicial Yuan's president and vice president must acknowledge the public's wish for an independent judiciary and reform. It's time for the judiciary to look to a truly independent future, not the politically yoked past.
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
RSS