A legislative committee yesterday passed a resolution condemning Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) and the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office for holding the legislature in contempt after SID officials failed once again to attend the committee’s meeting yesterday to answer legislators’ questions.
Lawmakers on the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee voiced their anger after SID spokesman Yang Jung-tsung (楊榮宗) and SID prosecutor Cheng Shen-yuan (鄭深元) — who was in charge of wiretapping Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and the legislature’s switchboard — failed to attend the meeting.
Yang and Cheng were both also absent from the committee’s meeting on Thursday last week.
Legislators, who believe that Huang has instructed the pair not to meet with the committee, passed a resolution condemning Huang and the SID and referred Yang and Cheng to the Control Yuan for investigation.
The Committee’s convener, DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻), said that since Yang and Cheng failed to appear at the meeting on Thursday last week, legislators requested that Huang tell the two to attend yesterday’s meeting, but “obviously Huang has ignored the committee’s request.”
When answering reporters’ questions before the meeting started, Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) said that “it’s inappropriate for lawmakers to ask prosecutors to be present at legislative meetings and to answer legislators’ questions related to cases of which they are in charge.”
“In such an arrangement, it is like having prosecutors face a public trial, and legislators might misjudge the scope of questioning the prosecutors on public affairs and specific judicial cases should accept,” Lo added.
Lo said that prosecutors are not under constitutional obligation to be present before the legislature and take questions from lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor Association, ROC (Taiwan), the nationwide organization of prosecutors, issued a statement saying that legislature’s rights of investigation and interpellation cannot apply to questioning prosecutors about specific cases, citing the Council of Grand Justices’ Interpretations No. 325, No. 461 and No. 585.
“Prosecutors exercise their authority independently, in accordance with the Constitution, and their investigations cannot be interfered with by political powers,” the association said.
It said that the request by the legislature is unconstitutional and leaves open the possibility that lawmakers might interfere with judicial affairs.
The association also launched a signature motion yesterday inviting prosecutors nationwide to protect prosecutors’ rights.
DPP lawmakers criticized the prosecutors’ refusal to attend a Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee meeting and the Prosecutor Association’s “distortion” of the grand justices’ interpretations.
The committee asked the prosecutors to attend the meeting to hear their opinions about the ministry’s special panel, which had released a report on the wiretapping controversy, not to collect information on ongoing investigations or specific cases, DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) told a press conference.
The association’s citing of the Interpretation No. 461 was a mistake and a distortion, Wu added, because the interpretation only discussed whether the chief of the general staff is required to be interpellated by lawmakers.
DPP Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) said that legislators are smart enough to know that they could not ask prosecutors about ongoing cases, adding that the committee was only trying to understand the details of the panel’s investigation.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS