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.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
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