Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
The minister was obviously upset about the pan-blue camp's constant criticisms over the past week as he attended a breakfast meeting with Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan.
"First of all, I would say that Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] Chairman Lien Chan (
The minister said that to recount the ballots, everything had to be processed according to law.
However, he said, because of their political ambitions , Lien and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) had constantly tried a variety of possibilities to get judges and the Central Election Committee (CEC) to stage a recount, and they did not show any respect toward justice at all.
"These actions are against the Constitution. If a recount is requested, everybody should follow the law and let judges do their jobs," Chen said. "How can a person like him [Lien] become our president?"
The minister also complained that the pan-blue camp had been trying to take advantage of the legislature to interfere with the judicial system, referring to attempts by KMT and PFP lawmakers to establish a special task force to investigate the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (
"All law enforcement officers and experts are now working on the case. Everybody wants to arrest the gunman as soon as possible," the minister said.
"It seems to be that their [the pan-blue camp] attitude shows that they do not trust our officers at all. This is absurd," he said.
He said the pan-blue camp was actually trying to start a revolution by questioning the shooting and staging demonstrations to back their demands for a recount.
Chen Ding-nan said Soong had constantly tried to humiliate the judiciary.
"Remember what he said when prosecutors decided not to indict him over the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal?" the minister said. "He said, `Thank you justice, for clearing my name.' Now he is complaining that justice is not fair."
"Lien and Soong do not respect the justice system at all," he said.
"How can they lead the public to learn how to do it [respect the system]? I don't think they can," he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS