As for the criminal investigations into the election-eve shooting, Chien said it's none of the Control Yuan business. "It's up to law enforcement authorities to investigate who was involved in the criminal case," he added.
Touching on Taiwan's government restructuring plan, Chien said the Control Yuan should continue to exist to supervise the executive branch's operations.
"The Control Yuan's function is like that of an independent director of a business corporation. It can supervise the Cabinet's operations without any political interference," Chien said.
In his view, he went on, such supervisory power should not be delegated to the Legislative Yuan as some people have suggested because the Legislature is a political body and cannot be free of partisan influence in its operations.
In the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, President Chen often assured voters that he wouldn't cave in to Beijing, and he often questioned his sole challenger Lien Chan's willingness to stand up to Beijing. Political and ethnic divisions have become more serious after Taiwan-born Chen narrowly defeated mainland China-born Lien.
Except for a small group of aboriginal tribes, most of Taiwan's 23 million people are ethnic Chinese. But the population can be divided into two sub-ethnic groups: the "Mainlanders" whose families fled to Taiwan when the Chinese Communists took over the mainland in 1949, and the "native Taiwanese" whose ancestors began arriving on the island in the 17th century or earlier.
The Mainlanders, about 15 percent of the population, have largely supported the "pan-blue alliance," whose support base is in northern Taiwan. The native Taiwanese tend to favor the "pan-green camp" of Chen's Democratic Progressive Party and its smaller ally the Taiwan Solidarity Union, whose support base is in southern Taiwan.
The Mainlanders have traditionally supported eventual unification with China, while the native Taiwanese lean more toward formal independence.
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