The four Council of Grand Justices nominees yesterday all pledged that they would not apply for permanent resident status in other countries or foreign citizenship amid concerns about allegiance to the country in their review at the legislature.
Two of the candidates for grand Justice, nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in March, have been mired in controversy since the nominations were announced.
Chen Be-yu (陳碧玉), head of the Judicial Yuan’s Judicial Personnel Study Center, was a US citizen and then held a US green card for 18 months while serving on the Supreme Court. Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, once held permanent residency in Canada.
During a question-and-answer session to review their credentials, several lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday asked the four nominees if they planned to apply for foreign citizenship or move overseas after they retire from the council.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) asked whether Lo’s nomination was a reward for helping to draw up the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), saying Lo was one the architects of the agreement.
Lo denied that, saying he provided only legal views on the construction of its articles.
Another nominee, Huang Hsi-chun (黃璽君), a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court, was criticized because her performance appraisal during her tenure at the court ranked her in the bottom 10 percent for four consecutive years.
In her defense, Huang said it was because of an assessment system in which performance was appraised on the basis of the number of cases that remained unsolved.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) questioned the “handful” of research papers published in journals between 2006 and this year by another nominee, Tang Te-tsung (湯德宗), a professor of constitutional law at National Taiwan University.
“That is because most of the articles I wrote were published in books,” Tang said.
The confirmation vote has been scheduled for Tuesday.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park this weekend, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a theme food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances. Pokemon Go Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as photo attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs. Pokemon trainers could also experience the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area. Three PokeStops are to be set up in the park. Trainers are invited to take
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