More than 9,000 petitions are sitting in the offices of the Control Yuan, the nation's highest watchdog body, which has not functioned since Feb. 1 because opposition legislators have refused to endorse President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) nominees for Control Yuan members.
Control Yuan Secretary-General Tu Shan-liang (杜善良) said a total of 9,410 petitions have accumulated at the watchdog body since the previous Control Yuan members finished their terms at the end of January.
Tu said the cases needed to be investigated so that the rights of the petitioners were not further compromised. He described the memberless Control Yuan as an "unprecedented and strange phenomenon in the nation's constitutional history."
But he doubted that the opposition party caucuses, who hold a slight majority in the legislature, would approve the nominations submitted by Chen even if an extra legislative session were to be held next month.
Chen first submitted the names of nominees in January for the previous legislature's approval, but opposition legislators refused to approve them, maintaining that most of them were not up to public expectations. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party, which as an alliance retained a majority in the new legislature, asked Chen to submit a new list of nominees on the grounds that his original list for the previous legislature was invalid.
Chen then resubmitted the same list, which opposition legislators are refusing to approve.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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