President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominee for Examination Yuan president, John Kuan (關中), yesterday vowed to refrain from participating in events held by political parties if his nomination were approved by the legislature.
During a question-and-answer session with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) in the legislature, Kuan signed an agreement provided by Yang promising to maintain impartiality if he became Examination Yuan president.
The agreement states: “I hereby promise to maintain neutrality during my term as president of the Examination Yuan. [I] will immediately withdraw from all political activities in a bid to ensure the impartiality of the Examination Yuan.”
However, he added that signing the agreement did not mean he would quit his KMT membership.
Kuan, 68, has served as vice president of the Examination Yuan. He resigned as KMT vice chairman after being informed of his nomination for the government branch’s top job.
He brushed aside claims that his position was a reward for his campaign efforts during the presidential election.
The Legislative Yuan yesterday began a review of the president’s nomination of Kuan, Chern Jinn-lih (陳進利) as vice president of the Control Yuan and three other members of the Control Yuan.
The legislature is scheduled to vote on the five nominees tomorrow.
The legislature has already approved Ma’s nomination of Wang Chien-shien as president of the Control Yuan and Wu Chin-lin (伍錦霖) as vice president of the Examination Yuan.
The legislature has also approved 24 of the 27 nominated Control Yuan members, as well as all 19 Examination Yuan nominees.
Kuan said yesterday that he would do his best to push through the pending draft public official standards bill, draft administrative officers law and draft public officials impartiality bill to establish a better administrative system if his nomination were approved.
He also defended the government’s plans to give recognition to Chinese academic credentials.
“President Ma is concerned that there are some 7,000 Taiwanese students studying in China. If we don’t recognize their degrees from schools in China, they will not be able to participate in any of our national examinations. This would be a big loss for us,” Kuan said.
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
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