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One of the top stories from this past week was that Taiwan’s legislature confirmed four grand justice nominations. The move on Friday means that all 15 justices on the Constitutional Court are now appointees of President Ma Ying-jeou. In Taiwan, grand justices serve terms of no more than eight years.
More than half of the lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opposed the nomination of two of the justices. However, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) had the numbers to give all four nominees a majority vote.
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Also this past week, the Coast Guard’s largest vessel, the Kaohsiung, has set off for the South China Sea to participate in annual Coast Guard exercises.
The Kaohsiung was commissioned on June 6. It left port in secret on Thursday and is expected to reach the Taiwan-administered Taiping Island (also known as Itu Aba) on Saturday.
Coast Guard Minister Wang Chung-yi is on board. He will inspect progress on a new pier under construction on the island.
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And finally, this past week, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen visited Facebook headquarters on the last leg of her US trip on Monday.
The senior managers of Facebook including Vice President Elliot Schrage gave the DPP suggestions on how to use Facebook in the 2016 presidential election campaign.
Facebook managers said that its service is an ideal messaging tool for a political party that does not have a lot of assets. They also said Facebook is good for Taiwan’s democracy. Facebook’s top management also suggested that her party be authentic when sharing information on the service.