Taiwan's opposition used a confirmation hearing to paint a new watchdog nominee as a ruling-party loyalist, a bad sign for the Control Yuan's credibility as an independent check on government.

• KMT lawmaker Chiu Chen-chun pressed Atayal nominee Iban Nokan on whether he would chase trivial complaints or dig into the Taiwan Sugar land deal dispute.
• The core charge: Nokan has long ties to the DPP, backed last year's mass recall push, and was then nominated by President Lai.
• Nokan said he has challenged his own side before, pointing to a time he publicly warned an Examination Yuan head about holding a party post.
• He would not commit in advance to investigating Premier Cho Jung-tai, saying he would act only with concrete evidence.

Outlook: The full legislature still has to vote on the nominees, and party-loyalty attacks are likely to shadow the rest of the confirmation fight.