Incoming premier Yu Shyi-kun appointed several familiar faces to his Cabinet lineup yesterday, among them popular Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Other returning players include Chen Chu (
Also staying in their posts are Wang Chun (
Yu yesterday named former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yu Cheng-hsien (
Former Hsinchu County commissioner Fan Chen-tsung (
Yu is expected to announce 12 more appointments today, including the minister of eduction and the head of the Council for Cultural Affairs.
The appointments will conclude tomorrow with the appointments for the Ministries of Transportation and Communications, Finance and Economic Affairs.
Speculation was rife that Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀) would hang on to her job as chairwoman of the Council for Cultural Affairs.
Huang Jung-tsun (黃榮村), currently a minister without portfolio, is the leading candidate to replace Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) as minister of education.
Yu is still searching for a minister of economic affairs after Christine Tsung (
Lin Lin-san (林陵三), vice minister of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, might be promoted and given the reins of that agency.
Addressing reporters at the Presidential Office, Yu said that the new Cabinet members appointed yesterday had two characteristics in common: professionalism and extensive political experience.
"It looks as if we have an `ex-county commissioner club' here," Yu said. "Don't belittle them. Each and every one of them has solid public support behind them and possesses extensive political experience as a local government chief."
Yu noted that four of the appointments unveiled yesterday are former local government heads. Yu Cheng-hsien is a two-term Kaohsiung county commissioner; Chen Ding-nan served two terms as Ilan County commissioner; Fan Chen-tsung served two terms as Hsinchu County commissioner; and Chen Chien-nien is also two-term Taitung County commissioner.
Yu yesterday again dismissed talk that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had chosen Cabinet members on his behalf. "None of the officials appointed today had been received nor contacted by the President before taking the job," the incoming premier said.
But Chen Chien-nien let slip that he had met with the president on Jan. 16 to talk about the position of chairman of the Council of Aboriginal Affairs.
The KMT's Chen said yesterday he was willing to accept any punishment given him by his party, which has refused to allow members to serve in the DPP government.
"For the sake of indigenous people and the entire nation, I've decided to put national interests before politics," Chen said.
Yu also dismissed the chance of the premier concurrently holding the DPP chairmanship, an idea current DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) proposed on Monday.
"It's never crossed my mind and I've never planned to do so," he said.
GEOPOLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The CGA’s nonmilitary role makes it a tool to avert diplomatic issues, an official said, while confirming the donation of a ship to Manila Coast Guard Administration (CGA) ships are scheduled to sail to the Philippines bearing the words “Taiwan Coast Guard” in a high-profile visit in October next year, the first such visit by a Taiwanese maritime law enforcement vessel to the Southeast Asian nation, the agency said yesterday. The CGA also confirmed that it had donated one of its decommissioned patrol vessels to the Philippines in a rare transfer of a retired ship to a nondiplomatic ally. The Republic of China (ROC) Navy last made such a visit in 1974, shortly before the Philippines switched diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China in
‘GLOBAL WARNING’: The infiltration is not just a local problem, as Beijing has been deploying the same tactics worldwide against Western democracies, a report said Between 50,000 and 100,000 Chinese spies are operating in Taiwan, far more than the National Security Bureau’s previous estimate of 5,000, German journalist and author Jurgen Kremb said on Monday. Kremb presented his research, titled “The War of Spies: How China’s Intelligence Services Are Infiltrating Taiwan — and What Europe Must Learn from It,” at a joint event held by the Taiwan offices of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the European Values Center for Security Policy. The report was published in June in the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Prospect & Exploration Monthly (展望與探索月刊). By spies, he said he was referring to informants,
PRICE STABILIZATION: The Ministry of Economic Affairs has urged the legislature to support the Cabinet’s supplementary budget for state-owned energy companies State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) on Saturday announced that it would raise domestic gasoline prices by NT$0.7 (US$0.02) per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.6 per liter this week after international crude oil prices rose above US$100 per barrel last week. Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday said that it matched CPC’s price adjustments for this week. The decisions end a six-week period during which CPC and Formosa kept fuel prices in Taiwan unchanged. Retail gasoline prices this week would rise to NT$31.2, NT$32.7 and NT$34.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively at CPC
More than 100 Taiwanese-Americans, Taiwanese lawmakers and members of civic groups on Saturday marched through New York City to call for Taiwan’s participation in the UN, with Marshall Island Permanent Representative to the UN John Silk joining the event to show support. Participants chanted: “UN for Taiwan” and “Keep Taiwan Free” as they marched through central Manhattan, passing Times Square and Bryant Park before ending near the New York Public Library. The annual march brought together Taiwanese community groups from across the US East Coast. Silk expressed hope that Taiwan would one day be able to participate in UN meetings
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