Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday filed a complaint with the Control Yuan against Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) over “dereliction of duty” in his nomination of Integral Investment Holdings Group managing director Chen Yuan-ling (陳元玲) to serve on the National Communications Commission (NCC).
The DPP has accused Chen Yuan-ling of fabricating her media experience in documents sent to the legislature.
Chen Yuan-ling and Executive Yuan spokesperson Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉) have denied the allegations.
“Premier Sean Chen failed to honor his obligation to conduct a thorough background check on Chen Yuan-ling before he nominated her,” DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said.
Wu asked the Control Yuan to consider impeaching Sean Chen for negligence.
Chen Yuan-ling and three other candidates were nominated to replace four sitting NCC members who are due to complete their tenure at the end of next month.
The qualification review process has long been stalled at the preliminary review stage by the legislature’s Transportation Committee because the DPP has repeatedly boycotted the review after its repeated requests that the Executive Yuan replace Chen Yuan-ling with another candidate were ignored.
The DPP finds Chen Yuan-ling “unacceptable” as a member of the NCC, the national watchdog of the telecoms and communications industry, because of her deep involvement in cross-strait business activities, DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said the party would go ahead with the review only when Sean Chen apologizes for the nomination and finds a replacement for Chen Yuan-ling, or if Chen Yuan-ling withdraws voluntarily.
The legislature is scheduled to go into recess on Friday.
KMT Legislator Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said that the party would consider asking for an extra session if a confirmation vote on the four NCC nominees is not held in this session.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift