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.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary