Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
In addition to the premier, six high-ranking officials from executive organizations will also be requested to meet with members of the Control Yuan to detail how and why the contentious decision was reached.
The series of interviews began with Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電) Chairman Hsi Shi-chi (席時濟), Taipower President Kuo Chun-hui (郭俊惠), and Atomic Energy Council Chairman Hsia Der-yu (夏德鈺). Yesterday the Control Yuan's five-member panel listened to reports given by Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) and Chen Chao-yih (陳昭義), secretary-general of the Energy Commission. Tomorrow, the panel will meet with Auditor-General of the Ministry of Audit, Su Chen-ping (蘇振平).
"Given that these units -- Taipower, the Atomic Energy Council and the Ministry of Economic Affairs -- could only offer advice regarding the pros and cons of the matter, the final decision still rested with the executive branch, and for this reason, it is necessary for the premier to undergo questioning," said panel member Huang Chin-jenn (黃勤鎮), adding that they have decided to issue their notice to Chang after the Chinese New Year vacation.
Concerning Monday's ruling by the Council of Grand Justices that the decision-making process behind the scrapping of the plant was flawed, Huang said that, "The verdict reached by the council will be one of the key references for our investigation."
He added that their investigation would center on whether the Executive Yuan's decision-making process was illegal or involved malpractice.
"There should be a set of appropriate administrative procedures to be followed when an important policy is to be changed," Huang said.
Panel member Chang Teh-ming (張德銘) said that cases considered to be flawed in the policymaking procedure were regarded as involving the greatest degree of wrongdoing. "It is too early to jump to any conclusion about what their final decision will be," he added.
The panel declined to comment after meeting Lin yesterday on the grounds that the investigation was incomplete, only saying they had tried to understand the causes behind the policy U-turn made by the ministry.
The Control Yuan may propose corrective action to government departments and take punitive action against public functionaries, including impeachment in the case of the most serious violations of the law or neglect of duties, and censure in less serious cases.
The decision made by the Executive Yuan on Oct. 27 to halt construction of the plant outraged the opposition because the plant had been approved by the previous KMT-led government. The opposition attacked the decision, saying that the executive branch had not shown any respect for a bill that had been passed in the legislature, and therefore appealed to the Control Yuan to penalize the officials involved in the matter.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
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