The Control Yuan is looking for a way to make its deliberations more transparent after a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker alleged that voting in a failed motion to impeach Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) had been rigged.
Article 13 of the Control Act (監察法) says that Control Yuan members cannot reveal impeachment cases before referring the cases to the Judicial Yuan’s Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries.
This has been interpreted to mean that the Control Yuan members can publicize their reviews of officials who have been impeached but not those on failed impeachment motions.
“We were considering the possibility of disclosing all the results of reviews, regardless of whether an impeachment motion was sustained or failed, but our members are still divided on this. It might take three months to deal with the issue,” Control Yuan Secretary-General Chen Feng-yi (陳豐義) said.
The move came after KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) accused Control Yuan member Tu Shan-liang (杜善良), who chaired a Jan. 5 meeting on a motion to impeach Chen Tsung-ming, of waiting to cast his vote until the other Control Yuan members had voted.
Chiu claimed the vote stood at 6-5 in favor of the motion, at which point Tu cast this vote, bringing the tally to 6-6 and causing the motion to fail.
Chiu also accused Control Yuan member Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥) of voting against the impeachment motion because he was on good terms with Chen Tsung-ming.
Tu and Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥) rebutted Chiu’s allegations yesterday.
Tu said all of the members at the Jan. 5 meeting voted simultaneously, while Chen Yung-hsiang said he was unacquainted with Chen Tsung-ming.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all