Deputy Legislative Speaker Chung Jung-chi (
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the PFP, which is entitled to recommend three candidates for the Control Yuan in proportion to its number of seats in the Legislative Yuan, was planning to recommend two of its legislators -- Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) and Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄).
The party had informed PFP Chairman James Soong (
Soong, however, rejected the suggestion, saying the PFP would not send any recommendation list to the president, the source said.
Asked about the nomination, Feng said he did not know anything about the Control Yuan nominations, adding that he was busy with his bid for re-election in Taichung County.
Meanwhile, PFP sources, who declined to be identified, said that the PFP could face strong pressure from its Hakka contingent if the party were to boycott Chen's new list of Control Yuan nominees, especially if Chung, a Hakka, is nominated for the vice presidential post.
Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (李南陽) said on Thursday that if the opposition-controlled legislature was willing to deal with the Control Yuan nomination issue during its new session, scheduled to open next month, Chen would refer a new list for lawmakers to screen.
The Control Yuan's functions have been suspended since the tenure of its previous members expired on Jan. 31, 2005, while PFP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers continued to refuse to review the president's nominees, saying the nominees failed to meet public expectations.
On Wednesday, the Council of Grand Justices ruled that the legislature's refusal to review the list was unconstitutional.
The council, ruling in response to a request by Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers for an interpretation of the constitutionality of the legislature's Procedure Committee's refusal to place the Control Yuan nomination review on the legislative agenda, said that such a move violated the spirit and provisions of the Constitution.
The ruling said that the Control Yuan is one of the nation's most significant government bodies, and the Legislative Yuan is obligated to screen the Control Yuan nomination list proposed by the president in line with the constitutional provisions.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai