The Control Yuan member nominees vetted yesterday included some who had previously been corrected by the institution and those who were voted down by the Presidential Office’s review team or were absent from the team’s list of recommendations, but were allegedly recycled and picked by the president himself, lawmakers said.
Among the nominees is former Food and Drug Administration director-general Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲), to whom the Control Yuan had issued at least 19 corrective measures concerning food safety during his term as head of the agency, lawmakers said in a review session of the Control Yuan nominees.
Kang was the administration’s head when a food scandal involving starch products contaminated with maleic acid broke out.
Wang Mei-yu (王美玉), former president and editor-in-chief of the Chinese-language pro-China newspaper the China Times, is also one of the nominees.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) and You Mei-nu (尤美女) said that the media outlet, after it was bought by tycoon Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) in 2008, has repeatedly violated the country’s regulations on placement marketing to promote China.
Tsai was reported in 2009 to have said that the paper “has been faithfully following orders from ‘the top’ to report ‘the mother country’s’ prosperity.”
Wang responded to the question by saying that the China Times was not the only media outlet to be fined for placement marketing.
Wang said she supports the idea that Taiwan’s future is to be decided by Taiwanese only, when questioned by You over an announcement made by the China Times on Jan. 1 this year emphasizing the paper’s strong “identification with China” and its efforts for “eventual unification with China.”
Former Public Construction Commission minister Fan Liang-shiow (范良銹), who was once head of the Taipei MRT Public Construction Bureau, had also several times been issued corrective directives by the Control Yuan, You said.
Fan reacted by saying that those corrective directives were for the Taipei City Government, not for his bureau or himself, a response You panned as inappropriate for a future Control Yuan member.
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said at least three people — former National Taiwan University vice president and Ma’s China-policy advisor Bau Tzong-ho (包宗和); former Council for Economic Planning and Development deputy minister Nancy Chen (陳小紅), who was once Ma’s subordinate; and National Medical University professor Wang Hui-po (王惠珀) — were at first not on the recommended list provided by the Presidential Office’s review team, but were later picked by the president personally.
Chiu also said that two current Control Yuan members — former New Party secretary-general Lee Ping-nan (李炳南) and Yu Teng-fang (余騰芳), who was regarded as Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) man, but refused to vote for the impeachment of former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) — were voted down by the review team, but were “recycled from the garbage can by President Ma.”
The legislature is to vote on the approval of the nominations today.
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