Premier-designate Tang Fei (
Economist Lo Fu-chuan (
With the Cabinet-building now completed, President-elect Chen Shui-bian (
Chen, Tang and the new Cabinet will take office on May 20.
Chen Po-chih was yesterday reported as having agreed to the nomination as chairman of the CEPD, which acts as an official think tank to advise the government on economic planning, and a coordinator between different ministries in promoting crucial cross-agency policies.
The completed financial and economic team includes Lin Chuan (
The incoming CEPD head is believed to have had a close relationship with both outgoing President Lee Teng-hui (
He has also been a principle architect of the so-called "no haste, be patient (
He told reporters yesterday, however, that there was a need to review and rectify the policy due to the government's efforts to enter the WTO. But he insisted that the policy should not be abolished.
In related news, Schive Chi (
Hsia, the incumbent head of the AEC's research institute on nuclear energy, is to become the AEC's chairman, an appointment confirmed by government spokesman-designate Chung Ching (
According to Chung, Hsia received a PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT and has worked for the AEC for more than 10 years.
Another important appointment in the foreign relations field is also reportedly about to be confirmed.
Lo, an academic at the UN University in Japan, is likely to take over for Chuang Ming-yao (莊銘耀), secretary general-designate of National Security Council, as representative to Japan.
DPP lawmaker Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) was quoted as saying yesterday that Lo has served in the UN to resolve economic issues in developing Asian countries and is therefore familiar in political circles in many Asian countries.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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