The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday questioned President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) motives in putting Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming’s (黃世銘) resignation on hold for 11 days.
Huang tendered his resignation on March 21, hours after the Taipei District Court found him guilty and sentenced him to 14 months in prison for leaking confidential information to Ma about a controversial probe into claims of undue influence on the judiciary involving Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) in September last year.
“It has been 11 days and Ma has not approved Huang Shih-ming’s resignation. We would like to know whether Ma is trying to evade his responsibility in the case or to cover up Huang Shih-ming’s crime,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) told a news conference.
Since Huang’s four-year tenure expires on April 18, he would likely be able to serve out his full term and “honorably retire” if his resignation is not approved by that time, Lin said.
Huang Yueh-hong (黃越宏), a former journalist, yesterday filed a lawsuit at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office against Ma and the prosecutor-general, saying that Ma’s inaction in approving the resignation would allow Huang Shih-ming to keep receiving a salary and supervising prosecutors around the country.
Ma approved the resignation of former prosecutor-general Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明), who also resigned before his term expired over a political controversy, on the same day Chen announced his resignation, Huang Yueh-hong said.
Since Huang Shih-ming has publicly announced his resignation, he should not be allowed to continue supervising prosecutors and receiving a salary and special allowance, Huang Yueh-hong said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
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More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
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