The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday said it would propose a constitutional amendment in the next legislative session to abolish the Control Yuan because of “incompetence.”
Prompted by the Control Yuan’s failure to impeach Keelung Mayor Chang Tong-rong (張通榮), who has been convicted of influence peddling and interfering with police matters when he demanded that a drunk driver be released without charge, TSU Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) told a press conference that even Control Yuan President Wang Chien-hsien (王建煊) said the government watchdog “might as well shut down.”
The TSU has always advocated the “separation of three powers” rather than the five powers — referring to the five branches of government: the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan — based on the Republic of China Constitution, the lawmaker said.
“Since the government is struggling with its finances and the Control Yuan, which costs taxpayers more than NT$700 million [US$23.3 million] every year, has been malfunctioning, it is time to transfer the rights of audit, investigation and impeachment to the Legislative Yuan and public servants’ property declaration to the Agency Against Corruption under the Ministry of Justice,” Hsu said.
TSU Legislator Yeh Chin-ling (葉津鈴) agreed, saying that the nomination of Control Yuan members has become the president’s personal tool to reward politicians.
At a separate press conference, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus also voiced support for the proposal.
The Control Yuan has not lived up to its mission as a watchdog, DPP legislators Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and Pasuya Yao (姚文智) said, adding that impeachment cases accounted for only 3.98 percent of all cases it had handled over the past six years, with each impeachment case costing taxpayers an average of NT$22.5 million.
“Impeachment is one of the most important functions of the Control Yuan, but it has apparently not done its job,” Chen said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it