Judicial Yuan President Rai Hau-min (賴浩敏) should resign to make way for new judicial reform efforts after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) takes office, New Power Party (NPP) legislators said yesterday, accusing Rai of turning a deaf ear to civic groups.
“We hope that the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan will resign in accordance with precedent to allow Tsai to decide what kind of president and vice president are most suited to handling judicial reforms,” party executive chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said, accusing Rai of failing to effectively initiate judicial reform efforts aimed at increasing civic participation in sentencing.
“The important reform policies they advocated when nominated have gone nowhere in six years,” Huang said of Rai’s advocacy of measures to allow civic observation of judicial reviews, accusing him of “brazenly rejecting” calls for juries or lay judges to be passed instead.
“Other than observation, citizens should have the right to participate or accompany judges in sentencing, rather than just expressing their views without having a vote,” he said.
The Judicial Yuan has said that giving citizens a sentencing vote could violate constitutional provisions investing judges with independent sentencing powers.
NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said the previous Judicial Yuan president, Lai In-jaw (賴英照), offered to resign in 2008 following the election of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Originally confirmed in 2007, he remained in office until 2010, when he resigned over a corruption scandal.
While Rai was unavailable for comment yesterday, an aide said he had already made up his mind after receiving similar advice, but was unwilling to be interviewed or comment to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Rai came under fire earlier this week from DPP Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), who said that both Rai and Judicial Yuan Vice President Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) had overstayed their terms in office.
Rai and Su were nominated after Lai and former Judicial Yuan Vice President Hsieh Tsai-chuan (謝在全) resigned, so they should have only served out the remainder of Lai and Hsieh’s four-year terms, leaving office in 2011, Liu said.
The Judicial Yuan president and vice president also head the 15 member Council of Grand Justices, the nation’s highest judicial body, which is expected to play a crucial role in ruling on the constitutionality of expected legislation to appropriate the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) alleged ill-gotten party assets.
Additional reporting by Yang Kuo-wen and CNA
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard