Two non-institutional bodies set up under the Presidential Office will be disbanded tomorrow, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) announced yesterday.
The Human Rights Advisory Committee and the Science and Technology Advisory Committee, both chaired by Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), will stop functioning to show the Presidential Office's respect for the legislature, as well as its sincerity in maintaining a harmonious relationship with opposition parties, Chen said.
However, the Presidential Office would continue to solicit the opinions of committee members whenever their expertise is required, Chen said at the Presidential Office, where the two committees' 39 members attended a farewell lunch hosted by Chen and Lu yesterday afternoon.
Dissolved
The Legislative Yuan passed a resolution in January requesting that six non-institutional bodies set up under the Presidential Office be dissolved.
They are the Human Rights Advisory Committee, the Science and Technology Advisory Committee, the preparatory group for the national human rights memorial museum, the Gender Mainstreaming Advisory Panel, the Constitutional Re-engineering Office and the Youth Corps.
Lu had previously argued that the Presidential Office was authorized to form the Human Rights Advisory Committee under the Standard Organic Law of Central Government Agencies (
She also argued that no additional legislation had been needed for the establishment of the Science and Technology Advisory Committee, because Chen in August 2000 approved an administrative decree authorizing its creation.
Lu yesterday said that, despite claims that the committee wasted taxpayers' money, all of the committee members had provided their services free of charge.
Looking ahead
She said that although the two committees would soon stop functioning, this marked the beginning of another stage.
"There is still a long way to go before we put into practice the president's promise of improving the country based on human rights and technology," she said.
"Technology is developing at a breakneck speed. We may be the hare in the race today, but the turtle may be gradually catching up if we slack off," Lu said.
The two committees' coordinators, Fort Liao (
The books, Building the Nation on Human Rights and Building the Nation on Technology, chronicle the two committees' achievements since their formation.
The Human Rights Advisory Committee was established in October 2000, and the Science and Technology Advisory Committee in November 2000.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard