A grand justice nominee chosen by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) died from a sudden heart attack yesterday.
Fa Chih-pin (法治斌), a National Chengchi University law professor, died from heart failure at Taipei Municipal Jenai Hospital at 7:40am at the age of 52.
Fa's death came as a surprise to his family, friends and politicians because he had just been given a clean bill of health last month as a qualification for nomination as a member of the Council of Grand Justices. He did not have a history of heart problems, his family said.
Jenai doctors said Fa's heart and lungs stopped functioning while he was being rushed to the hospital at 6:30am. Although doctors tried to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Initial diagnoses showed that Fa might have died from acute myocardial infraction, a Jenai spokesman said, but he added that further examinations would be needed to determine the real cause of death.
Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (黃志芳) said both Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) were shocked and saddened by Fa's death.
"Both Chen and Lu mourn the loss of an outstanding and respected legal scholar," Huang said, adding that they have extended condolences to Fa's family.
As to whether Chen will name another candidate to serve on the Council of Grand Justices, Huang said the issue requires further study.
"We have never encountered this kind of situation before. We should review legal regulations before a decision can be made," Huang said.
Fa, who held a doctoral law degree from the University of Virginia, was among the 15 candidates for the Council of Grand Justices nominated by Chen on May 19. The nomination is pending confirmation by the Legislative Yuan.
Chen originally hoped that the legislature could confirm the roster in the legislative session that ended on June 6. The opposition-controlled legislature, however, decided to review the nominees in the next session. The terms of the incumbent justices will expire on Sept. 30.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also said he was saddened by Fa's death.
"He was one of my best friends. He was a talented and devoted scholar. He had recently been invited to serve as a US Fulbright scholar," Ma said.
Fa's wife, Chang Ming-chu (
Fa was an expert on the Constitution and administrative law. He had written many books and articles on various legal subjects. He was also an ardent human rights advocate and had written several books on human rights protection.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
RSS