A proposal by opposition law-makers to disqualify people aged 65 and older from serving as grand justices sparked a heated debate yesterday.
The proposal, sponsored by KMT Legislator Chen Chien-min (陳健民), was seen as a political maneuver to block the reappointment of Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (翁岳生), who will turn 71 in July.
The 15 grand justices, including the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan, are nominated by the head of state, with the consent of the legislature. Their eight-year term will expire on Oct. 1.
According to Chen's planned legal revisions, new Judicial Yuan leaders must have served as grand justices for at least three years but must not be older than 65.
Defending the age limit, Chen said that no one over the age of 65 has been named as a grand justice since 1971.
"The age ceiling has become a tacit sort of constitutional precedent," he said yesterday, urging President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen Chien-min's bill has the backing of his KMT and PFP colleagues. The proposed legislation has fueled speculation that Judicial Yuan Vice President Cheng Chung-mo (城仲模) is trying to oust Weng so that he may take the helm of the judiciary himself.
Yang Jen-shou (
"What Taiwan needs is a judiciary leader with vision, wisdom and commitment to judicial reform," he said, adding that Weng has whole-heartedly devoted himself to overhauling the country's judicial system in recent years.
Yang said the Judicial Yuan would seek to discuss the matter with the legislature, adding his boss is not perturbed by charges that Cheng is trying to get rid of him.
Cheng, who was a grand justice from 1994 to 1998 and will not turn 65 until Oct. 30, denied that he did not get along with Weng.
DPP legislative whip Chen Chi-mai (
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Others say a personal vendetta prompted Chen Chien-min to push for the legal amendment. A former high court judge, the lawmaker reportedly sought unsuccessfully to work as Judicial Yuan secretary-general. He has denied any ulterior motives.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods