The Legislative Yuan yesterday confirmed President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) four nominees for the Council of Grand Justices: Kaohsiung High Administrative Court President Yang Hui-chin (楊惠欽); Minister of Examination Tsai Tzung-jen (蔡宗珍); Shieh Ming-yan (謝銘洋), a National Taiwan University law professor; and Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-lang (呂太郎).
There are 113 seats in the legislature, and according to the Constitution, nominees must obtain more than half, or 57 “yes” votes, to be approved.
Only 71 legislators participated in the vote Thursday, while 42 abstained.
Photo: CNA
Yang obtained 67 “yes” votes, three “no” votes and one invalid vote. Tsai Tzung-jen and Hsieh received 71 “yes” votes, while Lu received 68 “yes” votes, one “no” vote and two invalid votes.
The four nominees, including two women, were put forward by Tsai based on the consideration that the gender ratio of female justices to males would be no less than 25 percent, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) has said.
They would be among 15 grand justices, four of whom are women.
The four positions are to become vacant on Sept. 30 when grand justices Chen Be-yue (陳碧玉), Huang Hsi-chun (黃璽君), Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發) and Tang Te-tsung (湯德宗) step down at the end of their eight-year terms.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing