Saying a "strongman" would not dominate the new government's economic policies, the incoming secretary general of the Cabinet vowed Monday that policy would instead be formed from a team consensus and would not be subject to the will of a single government official.
"There will be no strongman of financial and economic policy in the new administration," said Cabinet Secretary General-designate Wei Chi-lin (
"Major financial and economic policy from now on [after the May 20 inauguration] will be determined by a team, made up of the heads of ministries as well as finance and economic affairs councils."
Without a team effort, Wei said, "final decisions on major policies will not be made. Also, the decision-making process will be transparent."
Wei's comments make it clear that the new administration has chosen to break from the past when it comes to deciding economic policy.
Major financial and economic policies going forward may not be determined by the ministries of finance and economic affairs alone, or even by the Executive Yuan.
If a policy initiative is launched by one ministry, the agreement of financial and economic affairs officials would then be sought, Wei said.
Then, the policy would go to the Secretary General of the Cabinet before reaching Tang Fei (
Wei also indicated that if the premier or secretary general of the Cabinet alone seeks to raise new economic policy issues, doing so should also be coordinated via the finance and economic affairs ministries first.
Then, it would go to the Executive Yuan for a final decision.
In the past, Wei said, economic policy strongmen have been senior KMT administration officials.
The elite cadre include Lee Kwoh-ting (
Wei wanted it made known that future policy decisions would enjoy the "collective wisdom" of related officials and would be open to public scrutiny.
"The new administration will make the decision-making process on major policies transparent to the general public ... and will let the public understand what the new administration is doing," Wei said.
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