Mainland Affairs Council officials yesterday met with former deputy finance minister Day Li-nin (戴立寧) to discuss his controversial appointment as advisor to the Beijing-based China Securities Regulatory Commission, but they failed to reach a conclusion on its legality.
"We need to know the structure of the commission and the committee's functions to understand if the advisory post could affect the national interest," council Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said.
Last night Chiu said that Department of Legal Affairs director Jeff Yang (
"Day said that he would be contributing professional expertise to the advisory committee, but even Day cannot know completely what functions the committee has. That is why we are concerned about his posting," Chiu said.
Article 33 of the Statute Governing Relations between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) allows the government to prohibit Taiwanese from holding certain offices in China.
The article further bars "any form of cooperative activity with the agencies, institutions or organizations of the Mainland Area which are political parties, the military, the administration or of any political nature, or which are involved in any political work against Taiwan or affect national security or interests," unless express permission is obtained.
Chiu said that positions in China sought by Taiwanese are classified as "prohibited" or "authorized upon application." He said further investigation was needed to establish which category Day's position falls under. While the China Securities Regulatory Commission is directly under the China's State Council, it was unclear whether the status of the affiliated international advisory committee on which Day serves is "official."
Day previously defended the job by saying that the position was of a non-political nature as well as unpaid.
Day was vice finance minister from 1995 to 1996. He then took up the posts of chairman and chief executive officer at the Bank of Overseas Chinese. He resigned from the bank in 2001. Day has since been active in the academic community and has focused on cross-strait financial development.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS