Lawmakers on Tuesday approved the appointment of veteran prosecutor Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) as prosecutor-general of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.
Despite Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators boycotting the confirmation vote, the 113-seat legislature approved Hsing’s nomination in a 65-0 vote, with 48 abstentions.
Hsing, who is head prosecutor of the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, said after the confirmation vote that he would insist on judicial independence and uphold professionalism in his new position.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
He would encourage prosecutors to continue improving their knowledge and skills in safeguarding the public interest while protecting the rights of individuals, he said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) late last month named Hsing, 63, to replace Chiang Hui-ming (江惠民), whose tenure is to end on Saturday next week.
Announcing Hsing’s nomination, the Presidential Office noted his three decades of experience and highly praised leadership style.
At a news conference on Tuesday, KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) said the party’s lawmakers abstained from the vote in opposition to what they described as Hsing’s favoritism of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The KMT said that Hsing’s apparent closeness to the DPP casts doubt on the his ability to uphold judicial independence.
The KMT pointed to several controversial investigations overseen by Hsing as head of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office from 2016 to 2020 as evidence, including a 2018 case in which former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was charged with illegally selling three media companies owned by the KMT more than a decade earlier.
Last year, the Taipei District Court acquitted Ma on charges of breach of trust and irregular transactions, a decision that has since been appealed by prosecutors.
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