Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
He estimated that the money wasted through corruption every year makes up about 30 percent of the government's annual total expenditure, or about NT$510 billion.
Yesterday was the first time Chen went to the legislature to face interpellation by lawmakers since he assumed the justice minister's portfolio. Unlike some of the new Cabinet's scholars-turned-ministers, the former four-term legislator was not given much of a hard time by his former colleagues.
However, the reputed disharmony between Chen and the director of the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau, Wang Kuang-ru (
In his policy report yesterday, Chen also stressed that his plan to create a nationwide record of every citizen's bank accounts and other assets would not inconvenience people, nor would it violate citizens' privacy -- as some have charged.
"The passage of the telecommunication monitoring law has shown that for the purpose of cracking down on crime, the public can accept a monitoring system," Chen said. "Just like telecommunication monitoring, a bank account record could only be checked with a warrant."
The ties between the ministry and its Investigation Bureau was another focus of questions from lawmakers. KMT legislator Lin Hong-tsung (
Chen clearly disagreed, but Wang, after some hesitation, said he would be glad to see it happen.
Lin asked some 20 bureau staffers who were at the session to vote "if you agree with your director." Almost all raised their hands, leaving Chen speechless.
DPP legislator Perng Shaw-jiin (彭紹瑾) asked if the alteration of the plan for a new anti-corruption administration was due to the Investigation Bureau's reluctance to have some of its departments merged into the new institution.
Chen denied the resistance had affected the plan.
"The final agreement that the bureau's anti-corruption department would not be merged into the new administration was not due to such resistance. Instead, the overriding concern was what would be the best for the anti-corruption effort." Chen said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘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
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
RSS