Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) yesterday dismissed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) allegations that the newly proposed anti-corruption commission could become an intelligence agency and undermine freedom of speech.
“Although the proposed anti-corruption commission will include government ethics personnel, we have made it very clear that it will be a government agency in charge of one duty only — anti-corruption investigations,” Tseng told a press conference held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus. “The unit will never take on duties other than investigating corruption cases.”
In the wake of a bribery scandal involving three judges and one prosecutor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced on Tuesday that the government would establish an anti-corruption commission under the Ministry of Justice.
The ministry said its Department of Government Employee Ethics — which is responsible for supervising the ethics of government employees, anti-corruption work and protecting official secrets — would be merged into the proposed commission.
Tseng also responded to criticism that the new commission would be redundant given that the nation already has a Special Investigation Panel, established under the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office four years ago to investigate high-level government officials suspected of corruption, and the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau (MJIB), which investigates corruption and economic crime.
Tseng said the new agency would be an “elite” organization enlisting the most capable prosecutors, MJIB agents, police officers and officials from the Department of Government Employee Ethics to combat corruption.
Some officials in the new agency will have judicial authority to conduct searches, seize property and detain suspects, he said, adding that the unit would have an initial staff of 200 people, with plans to expand to 400 at a future date.
The announcement of the new unit prompted expressions of concern from the DPP, with caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) saying the proposed commission could turn into the sort of intelligence units characteristic of the martial law era.
The DPP also questioned the determination of the Ma administration to combat corruption, saying the KMT caucus blocked related bills a total of 177 times in the legislature when the DPP was in power.
In response, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) yesterday said the KMT was opposed to the establishment of an anti-corruption commission back then “because former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) never really intended to combat corruption.”
“But now it is different. President Ma is so clean that he is very particular about [government officials’] integrity,” Lin said, adding that the KMT caucus fully supports the government’s plan.
Meanwhile, at a separate setting yesterday, KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) defended Ma’s planned anti-corruption commission and called on the DPP to throw its support behind the plan.
“The people want the government to show determination in combating corruption and everyone should applaud and encourage the establishment of an anti-corruption commission. We hope friends in the DPP will also support the plan,” he said.
King also dismissed DPP concerns that the government is setting up the commission to boost the KMT’s momentum in the municipality elections in November, saying Ma did “the right thing at the right time” in forming the commission.
“The KMT will not use the establishment of the commission as a means to boost support for party candidates in November’s elections,” he said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS