The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved the nominees for Judicial Yuan president, vice president and five grand justices, despite an attempt by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to block the candidates for president and three grand justices.
While Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers arrived and gathered early yesterday morning at the Legislative Yuan to vote, their KMT counterparts assembled in the same place to shout slogans and wave banners saying that Hsu Tzong-li’s (許宗力) nomination as Judicial Yuan president was “unconstitutional” and accusing other grand justice nominees of “destroying the Constitution.”
The legislature voted to confirm the nominees for president and vice president yesterday morning, and those for the five grand justices in the afternoon.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The KMT caucus abstained on the vote for Judicial Yuan president and held a press conference outside the legislative chamber in the morning, accusing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration of moving to centralize authority not only by holding High-level Policy Coordination Meetings that dominate the Executive Yuan, but also by trying to control the Judicial Yuan.
KMT caucus convener Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) said Tsai’s nominations for grand justices are aimed at “creating a new constitution,” given the grand justices’ power to interpret the Constitution.
“During the legislative review, Hsu Tzong-li, [human rights lawyer] Remington Huang (黃瑞明), [National ChiaYi University professor] Hsu Chih-hsiung (許志雄) and [National Taiwan University law professor] Hwang Jau-yuan (黃昭元) mocked and disavowed the Constitution,” he said.
They displayed a “contemptuous and frivolous attitude” when responding to lawmakers’ questions and “were condescending, because they were sure that as Tsai’s nominees, they would definitely be approved,” he said.
Upon receipt of a pink ballot for the Judicial Yuan presidential nominee, KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) scribbled “abstain” on the ballot, crumpled it and left the legislative chamber with it.
“The DPP lawmakers said they would sue me for destroying the ballot, but what does it matter if I destroyed the ballot when the grand justice nominees could destroy the Constitution?” he asked as he showed his ballot to reporters.
The KMT caucus opposed Hsu Tzong-li’s nomination, because they consider his reappointment to grand justice — as he is to serve ex officio on the Council of Grand Justices as Judicial Yuan president — after a five-year gap to be a contravention of the constitutional stipulation that a grand justice cannot serve consecutive terms.
KMT lawmakers also lambasted his description of Taiwan-China ties as a “special state-to-state relationship.”
Hsu Tzong-li, Remington Huang, Hsu Chih-hsiung and Huang Chao-yuan all deftly, in one way or another, evaded or refused to sing the Republic of China (ROC) anthem at the KMT lawmakers’ request during the confirmation hearings, with Hsu Chih-hsiung claiming that singing it would go “against his conscience.”
The People First Party caucus, consisting of three legislators, said before the vote that they would vote against Hsu Tzong-li and Huang Chao-yuan, because they refused to acknowledge the name ROC and its constitution, and against Remington Huang for failing to recuse himself despite being the spouse of a lawmaker.
With the DPP caucus’ majority, Hsu Tzong-li’s nomination was approved by the 113-seat legislature by a vote of 72 to 3, while Tsai Chung-tun’s (蔡炯燉) nomination as vice president passed 83-2.
As for the five grand justice nominees, Hsu Chih-hsiung passed by a vote of 72 to 32 with 1 invalid vote, Judicial Yuan Deputy Secretary-General Chang Chiung-wen (張瓊文) was elected 94-9 (2 invalid votes), Remington Huang 74-31, National Taiwan University law professor Chan San-lin (詹森林) 92-12 (1 invalid vote) and Huang Chao-yuan 72-33.
Additional Reporting by Cheng Hung-ta
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
RSS