The Presidential Office yesterday said it was not consulted before the preparatory committee for the National Congress on Judicial Reform decided to drastically reduce the number of Supreme Court judges and give the president the power to appoint judges without legislative approval.
“President Tsai [Ing-wen (蔡英文)] has always supported judicial independence. Her resolve and stated position on this matter need not be questioned,” Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said.
Tsai serves as the convener of the committee and there are five sub-committees.
Photo: Chung Lee-hua, Taipei Times
“Members of the preparatory sub-committees have been meeting to deliberate on the thematic issues assigned to each of them,” Lin said, adding that the issues were compiled during an open call for input by various sectors of society and then consolidated by committee members.
“As such, we respect each committee member’s judgement and have given them room for discussion to allow them to fully express their views and ideas,” he said.
As for the process of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, members of the judicial reform committee did not make consultation, nor did they seek the Presidential Office’s opinion, Lin said.
“The president believes that issues related to presidential powers and mandated duties should be treated carefully, in a prudent way,” Lin said, adding that the issue would be further evaluated in the final committee session.
During a meeting of the committee on Monday a consensus was reached that the top level of the judiciary should be reduced by cutting the combined number of Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court judges from 94 to 21, and granting the president the power to make final selection of the judges without going through legislative approval.
At present, the Judicial Yuan nominates and appoints top-level judges.
Under the proposal, the Judicial Yuan president would nominate 63 candidates — three times the required number of judges — and a screening committee would then narrow the list to 42 and the president would select candidates from the shortlist.
Critics and opposition party lawmakers have accused Tsai of seeking to expand her powers and interfere with judiciary’s independence.
However, the Judicial Yuan on Tuesday said that the proposal aims to bring the nation more in-sync with the judicial systems in other countries.
Reached for a comment yesterday, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) urged his successor to be cautious in handling the issue, saying that Taiwan should not randomly copy foreign systems.
Additional reporting by CNA
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
RSS