Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday welcomed the possibility of former National Communications Commission chairman Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) succeeding Judicial Yuan president Lai In-jaw (賴英照).
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), head of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, told reporters that Su, who is now a professor of law at National Chengchi University, had a thorough understanding of administrative laws.
Hsieh said that although he was concerned about the difficulties the next Judicial Yuan president would face in pushing through judicial reform amid political wrangling, he was confident Su would be able to overcome such problems if he replaced Lai.
Another committee head, KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟), also gave Su credit for his legal expertise.
Hsieh and Lu were responding to media speculation that Su, the younger brother of former National Security Council secretary-general Su Chi (蘇起), could be nominated as Lai’s successor.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) accepted Lai’s resignation on Sunday over a corruption scandal involving three judges and one prosecutor.
Judicial reform groups have called for senior judicial officials to take responsibility and resign in the wake of the scandal. Taiwan High Court Chief Justice Huang Shui-tong (黃水通) has already tendered his resignation to the Judicial Yuan.
DPP lawmakers yesterday said that it would be “completely unacceptable” if Su were to take control of the Judicial Yuan, saying he was politically biased and would not carry out judicial reforms.
Speaking in the legislature, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) blasted the potential nominee, saying Su was part of a ploy by the Ma administration to control the judiciary.
“Su is full of political bias ... he is completely unsuited to the politically neutral job requirements of an official in the judiciary,” he said.
The DPP caucus called on the president to nominate a new Judicial Yuan head who was apolitical, protected the interests of the needy, had high moral standards and could provide a timetable for judicial reform.
“We believe that the two potential nominees right now, Su and Red Cross Society of the Republic of China head C.V. Chen (陳長文), are both not suited to take on this important role,” DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
Lu also rebutted a comment by DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) that Ma should apologize to the public and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) should step down to take responsibility for prosecutors’ failure to arrest former KMT legislator Ho Chih-hui (何智輝) — who is at the center of the scandal that caused Lai his job and is now on the run.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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