Former minister of justice Chen Ding-nan (
Chen died of lung cancer in National Taiwan University Hospital.
His remains will be brought back to his hometown in Ilan County, where they are to be cremated.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
After Chen was diagnosed with lung cancer in April, he started a blog titled "Good Morning, The Death God," in which he wrote about his experience of his illness.
Chiang Hui-ming (江惠民), head of the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office and a former top aide to Chen, yesterday told the Taipei Times that he could not believe it when Chen was diagnosed with cancer, because the former minister never smoked and had led a healthy life.
Dubbed "Mr Clean" by the media, Chen established the Black Gold Investigation Center under the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office to fight serious corruption right after he assumed his post as minister in 2000.
Unlike his predecessors, Chiang said, Chen never intervened in prosecutors' investigations into sensitive cases.
"Chen gave prosecutors more room and more independence to fight corruption," Chiang said.
Chen also managed to resist pressure from government officials trying to avoid queries from investigators, Chiang added.
During his tenure as justice minister, Chen encouraged his staff to watch CNN daily as a way to improve their English.
He had also set up programs offering scholarships to prosecutors entering masters programs in law at prestigious universities around the world.
Chen had a reputation for strictness. He once told reporters that news agencies kept criticizing him because he always demanded perfection in every aspect of his life and work.
In 2001, Chen implemented a strict regulation stipulating that any gift worth more than NT$30 would be regarded as vote-buying, which sparked criticism from political parties.
Chen, an Ilan native, stepped down as justice minister in January last year to campaign for the Ilan County commissionership.
He officially began his political career when he was first elected Ilan County commissioner in 1981, an office he occupied for two terms, until 1989.
During his eight-year term in Ilan, he cracked down on factory pollution and spent the fines that were collected on cleaning up polluted areas.
Chen's political involvement goes back to his connections with the dangwai movement, the forerunner of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Many of those involved in the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 were Chen's high school or college friends.
Murder
The murder of former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung's (
Before that, as a successful businessman, he constantly donated and supported dangwai activists.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday paid a visit to Chen's family in the hospital and offered his condolences.
Funeral
Super Meng (
Chen's former assistant DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤), said that Chen had been an earnest, honest man.
"A politician like him was exactly what Taiwan needed," Lee added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
`Sorry'
"I am very sorry to hear about his death. Minister Chen was a DPP official with integrity and virtue," Ma said while attending the KMT's anti-President Chen Shui-bian (
"Although not everyone agreed with his way of doing things, I think everyone identifies with his principles in maintaining his integrity," Ma said.
High quality
While lauding Chen Ding-nan's "high quality of administration during his term as Ilan County commissioner," the DPP's mayoral candidate for Kaohsiung, Chen Chu (
Additional reporting by Flora Wang, Mo Yan-chih and Jimmy Chuang
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
DEFENSIVE EDGE: The liaison officer would work with Taiwan on drones and military applications for other civilian-developed technologies, a source said A Pentagon unit tasked with facilitating the US military’s adoption of new technology is soon to deploy officials to dozens of friendly nations, including Taiwan, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is to send a representative to collaborate with Taiwan on drones and military applications from the semiconductor industry by the end of the year, the British daily reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “Drones will certainly be a focus, but they will also be looking at connecting to the broader civilian and dual-use ecosystem, including the tech sector,” one source was
RSS