President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday nominated former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman John Kuan (關中) as head of the Examination Yuan and former Control Yuan member Chen Jinn-lih (陳進利) as vice president of the Control Yuan.
Ma also nominated three Examination Yuan members and five grand justices. The nomination of Kuan, Chen and the three Examination Yuan members was presented after Ma’s original nominations of Chang Chun-yen (張俊彥) as Examination Yuan president, Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) as Control Yuan vice president and three other nominees affiliated with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were rejected.
“The nominees are great choices, and we hope the legislature will approve the nominations,” Ma said when receiving the nominees at the Presidential Office yesteday.
PHOTO: CNA
Kuan, 68, had served as vice president of the Examination Yuan. He resigned as the KMT vice chairman after being informed of the nomination, and brushed aside claims that his position was a reward for his campaign efforts during the presidential election.
“If you know what I’ve achieved during the six years in the Examination Yuan and what I’ve contributed to related policies and reforms, you will know that I am an expert in the field,” Kuan said.
When asked about his long-term involvement in KMT affairs, Kuan said he would seek to strike a balance between party politics and the neutrality required of civil servants.
“I believe I will be able to make some contributions to establishing the civil office system with my expertise and experience,” he said.
Chen vowed to assist Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien to clamp down on corruption, and said the Control Yuan should list the “319 shooting” investigation as a priority.
The “319 shooting” refers to the election-eve attack on former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former vice-president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on March 19, 2004.
Chen Jinn-lih, a member of the Amis tribe, will become the first Control Yuan vice president with an Aboriginal background if the Legislative Yuan approves his nomination.
Chang had dropped out of the legislative confirmation vote in July following allegations that he had accepted payments from Polaris Securities Co during his time as president of National Chiao Tung University.
The three Control Yuan nominees are former Control Yuan member Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬), National Union of Nurses president Yin Jeo-chen (尹祚芊) and Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥), a civil engineering professor at National Taiwan University.
The five nominees for the Council of Grand Justices are attorney and National Taiwan University (NTU) law professor Huang Mao-jung (黃茂榮), National Chengchi University law professor Chen Ming (陳敏), Supreme Administrative Court judge Yeh Bai-xiu (葉百修), Academia Sinica researcher Chen Hsin-min (陳新民) and Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生), an honorary professor with National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development.
The Presidential Office will present the nominations to the Legislative Yuan on Friday for approval.
Wang Chien-shien said Ma had made a good choice in nominating Chen Jinn-lih as Control Yuan vice president.
“Not many Aborigines have had the opportunity to work for Yuan-level governmental agencies in the past,” he said. “If he were to become vice president of the Control Yuan, it would be an encouragement to Aborigines and would meet with the expectations of Aboriginal people.”
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus opposed Kuan’s nomination.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) told a press conference that a person like Kuan, who has been deeply involved with the KMT’s affairs, would be incapable of creating fair mechanisms for screening qualified government officials.
Defending Ma’s nomination of Kuan, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said Kuan was qualified, given his experience as vice president of the Examination Yuan and minister of the civil service.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan, Flora Wang and Jimmy Chuang
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS