Following conflict and then compromise, the Cabinet finally sent the Cabinet Organizational Act (
Over the past three decades, numerous attempts to amend the act were stillborn, mainly because the ministries looked after their own interests. The Cabinet's administrative duties are complex and constantly changing and must be handled by specialized agencies. On the other hand, there are demands that structures, human resources and budgets be streamlined, and arguments for increasing or decreasing the budget are constantly being debated. In addition, officials in institutions or positions about to be merged have done everything in their power to keep the bill from passing.
Although the government and opposition reached a consensus on revising the act during the previous legislative session, the amendment was not completed and the process had to be repeated.
To keep the consensus alive, the Cabinet agreed to set up a human resources office for retired military personnel.
Several Cabinet members opposed the suggestion at last week's Cabinet meeting, but it was accepted following negotiations. The debate in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) legislative caucus overturned a past suggestion that a ministry for retired military staff be established, instead proposing a ministry for national defense and retired military personnel.
The marine ministry that KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
It will be very difficult to pass the amendment because there is always someone who is not satisfied with the latest change. But this is a time of political uncertainty, which could be the best opportunity to pass the amendment. The Cabinet will resign, leaving vested interests with little power to block organizational changes. This serves to diminish pressure and facilitate discussion of the amendment based on the existing agreement.
Some people in Ma's camp and Democratic Progressive Party candidate Frank Hsieh's (
Even before taking up the presidency, South Korean president-elect Lee Myung-bak began streamlining the government and declared that the original 18 ministries would be streamlined to 13 ministries and two national commissions. He also appointed new Cabinet members.
After dozens of years of attempted reform, Taiwan's politicians are still busy promoting their own ideas. The difference in efficiency is telling.
On March 22, 2023, at the close of their meeting in Moscow, media microphones were allowed to record Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) telling Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin, “Right now there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Widely read as Xi’s oath to create a China-Russia-dominated world order, it can be considered a high point for the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea (CRINK) informal alliance, which also included the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba. China enables and assists Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s
After thousands of Taiwanese fans poured into the Tokyo Dome to cheer for Taiwan’s national team in the World Baseball Classic’s (WBC) Pool C games, an image of food and drink waste left at the stadium said to have been left by Taiwanese fans began spreading on social media. The image sparked wide debate, only later to be revealed as an artificially generated image. The image caption claimed that “Taiwanese left trash everywhere after watching the game in Tokyo Dome,” and said that one of the “three bad habits” of Taiwanese is littering. However, a reporter from a Japanese media outlet
The Iran war has exposed a fundamental vulnerability in the global energy system. The escalating confrontation between Iran, Israel and the US has begun to shake international energy markets, largely because Iran is disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow waterway carries roughly one-third of the world’s seaborne oil, making it one of the most strategically sensitive energy corridors in the world. Even the possibility of disruption has triggered sharp volatility in global oil prices. The duration and scope of the conflict remain uncertain, with senior US officials offering contradictory signals about how long military operations might continue.
An article published in the Dec. 12, 1949, edition of the Central Daily News (中央日報) bore a headline with the intimidating phrase: “You Cannot Escape.” The article was about the execution of seven “communist spies,” some say on the basis of forced confessions, at the end of the 713 Penghu Incident. Those were different times, born of political paranoia shortly after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) relocated to Taiwan following defeat in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The phrase was a warning by the KMT regime to the local populace not to challenge its power or threaten national unity. The
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