Control Yuan President Fredrick Chien (
Chien has consulted with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kao Yu-jen (
All four legislators are qualified lawyers with strong legal background.
Chien has also interviewed members of the Control Yuan with a legal background, as well as administrative experience.
While the two legislators from the pan-green camp have confirmed that they were approached by Chien and have expressed their willingness to participate in the committee's activities, Chen seemed inclined to reject the invitation due to the PFP's concern that there is no legal basis for the formation of the committee.
The PFP legislative caucus meanwhile urged all legislators to decline committee membership and said it would consider recommending Vice President Annette Lu (
The statute governing the committee was proposed by the pan-blue camp, and will be put to the vote in August.
Kao could not be reached for comment yesterday, but the KMT legislative caucus said it was opposed to the committee starting work before the statue had been passed.
A top KMT official said that several lawmakers from across party lines were opposing legislators' participation in the committee to prevent it from becoming an arena for political strife and bickering.
The official said that the statute might be amended to exclude legislators' participation in the committee.
Although Chien has already started giving shape to the committee, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"Chien told me that the committee would operate according to the law, and there would not be two committees," Wang said.
He said that Chien had contacted him yesterday morning to discuss committee affairs.
"Although Chien has started consulting with certain candidates, this is only his private capacity. Since the statute governing the committee has not been passed, it is still unknown how the members will be chosen, and Chien's efforts now may turn out to be for naught in the end," Wang said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS