Prosecutor-general nominee Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) vowed yesterday in the Legislative Yuan not to leak details of any ongoing investigations to the president if his nomination is approved.
Yen’s nomination to be the successor to former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) was jointly reviewed yesterday by the Internal Administration Committee and the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
Huang stepped down earlier this month after being embroiled in controversy over his involvement in the so-called “September strife” between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
The Taipei District Court last month found him guilty of leaking confidential information to Ma.
Ma has nominated Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Head Prosecutor Yen to replace Huang.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said at the review meeting that “Huang became the first prosecutor-general convicted of briefing the president on an ongoing investigation. I hope you insist on neutrality in the office by not revealing any legal cases to Ma, particularly during the lead-up to the seven-in-one elections in November. I am afraid National Security Council [NSC] Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) might ask you to brief his council on information related to elections.”
“I really hope you insist on political neutrality and judicial independence if your nomination is approved,” Wu said.
“I promise not to brief the president on any investigations, not only President Ma, but also the next president to be elected in 2016,” Yen said.
“If there is a law authorizing me to attend an NSC meeting, I would go. If not, I would never go,” Yen said.
DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) asked Yen: “What is your position on the Sunflower movement students facing criminal charges?”
Yen replied that there are many outstanding prosecutors in the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
“I believe the district prosecutors’ office will handle the cases appropriately,” Yen said.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
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