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.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by