Judicial Yuan Vice President Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) should be impeached for interfering in the MeHAS land appropriation case’s appeal process by making public comments, judicial reform activists said yesterday during a protest outside the Control Yuan in Taipei.
Landowners accompanied by members of the Taiwan Forever Association, the Judicial Reform Foundation and the Northern Taiwan Society shouted slogans calling for Su to be removed from his post.
“We hope that the Control Yuan can immediately impeach [Su] to maintain Taiwan’s constitutional government and the dignity of our judiciary,” Taiwan Forever Association executive secretary Hung Chung-yen (洪崇晏) said.
He blasted Su for actively seeking out media interviews to elaborate on the Council of Grand Justices’ Constitutional Interpretation No. 732, which ruled that the Taipei City Government’s use of provisions of the Mass Rapid Transit Act (大眾捷運法) and the Mass Rapid Transit Land Development Act (大眾捷運系統土地開發辦法) to appropriate land next to the Xiaobitan (小碧潭) MRT station for a connected development project was unconstitutional.
Su said in interviews following the issuance of the interpretation that while the Taipei City Government’s use of the articles was unconstitutional, the MeHAS project that had sparked the case would not be affected by the interpretation, because it did not fit the definition of “neighboring land” to which the ruling was applied, ruling out any appeal to overturn the city government’s appropriation.
Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Kao Jung-chih (高榮志) said Su’s comments amounted to interfering with the judicial process, because they could influence the decision of lower courts on whether to reopen the case.
“His unauthorized publication of an interpretation of the constitutional verdict is absolutely without precedent; there has never been a case of a grand justice talking with the media like this. The Council of Grand Justices is supposed to use spokespeople and speak through its secretary general, so there is no individual justice who can represent the views of all the justices by publicly commenting on a constitutional interpretation,” he said.
Regardless of whether the lower courts agree to reopen the case, there would inevitably be questions because of Su’s comments, he said.
While activists have previously applied for a judicial evaluation in response, the Judicial Evaluation Committee had ruled that it did not have jurisdiction over grand justices, while the council itself had refused to self-discipline, Kao said, adding that the Control Yuan was the last venue of appeal because of its power to investigate and impeach any central government official.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who served as a lawyer for MeHAS landowners, criticized Su for “degrading himself” in ordering online changes to his accompanying opinion to the council’s decision after it said that the opinion did not apply to MeHAS.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to