Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥), who was sworn into office yesterday, refused to give definitive comments about whether the ministry would lift an unofficial suspension on carrying out death sentences.
Tsai said he has been in office for less than a day and needs to thoroughly consider the facts and weigh public opinion carefully before making a decision.
Tsai said his experience as Investigation Bureau director-general gives him a greater understanding of the proper integration of criminal investigation and prosecution.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
He is the first person to move from the bureau position to minister of justice.
At his swearing-in ceremony, Tsai said he hopes members of the ministry will be motivated in their work by idealism, a sense of mission and passion.
The five subordinate services of prosecutors, investigators, anti-corruption officers, administrative enforcement agents and corrections officers must coordinate their actions and resources in the war on crime, drugs, telecom fraud and electoral fraud, he said.
Separately yesterday, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said his appointment to the post is not related to the nine-in-one elections in November.
The Ministry of the Interior is to focus on the tasks of urban renewal and social housing, as well as narcotics enforcement and public safety, to ensure an orderly and safe society, Hsu said.
“I come to the ministry on my own because I feel total confidence in the people of this ministry and have no need to bring staff,” he said.
Elsewhere, Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Hu Zhong-yi (胡忠一) vowed to balance the production and sale of domestic crops and increase collaboration with farmers’ groups.
As the agency has been plagued by plunging prices due to oversupply, balancing crop production and supply is expected to be a challenge.
At the handover ceremony at the agency’s main office in Nantou County’s Jhongsing New Village (中興新村), Hu said he would promote new agriculture models and turn domestic agriculture into “a technological, secure, profitable and sustainable industry.”
Hu presented eight plans to boost the competitiveness of domestic agriculture, including improving information systems for crop supply and demand; reviewing the nation’s tariff quotas for crops; seeking diverse ways to process crops; and setting up more cooling and logistics systems to reduce the loss of crops during delivery.
Also, he plans to help farmers replace less competitive crops or ones in oversupply with others; encourage more farmers to adopt organic and eco-friendly farming and join the council’s traceability agricultural product system; establish a strategic alliance among the agency, local farmers’ groups and other marketing channels; and adjust the market structure of agricultural products.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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