Premier-designate Yu Shyi-kun spent his last weekend before taking office dining with Cabinet members yesterday and discussing the details of a joint pledge in which team spirit, efficiency and frugality will be emphasized.
In addition, a crash course for incoming Cabinet members has been scheduled for Thursday. Old and new members have been invited to participate in the program, in which government officials will familiarize themselves with their jobs and learn how to deal with lawmakers and the media.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yu ate lunch and dinner yesterday with two groups of newly appointed Cabinet members at the Armed Forces Officer's Club.
Chuang Suo-hang (
"It's a warm-up for the big day," Chuang said.
The incoming Cabinet members also exchanged views on the joint pledge, an idea brought up by Yu, Chuang said.
"The purpose of the joint pledge is to commit oneself to do the utmost to continue political reforms, increase administrative efficiency and practice frugality," Chuang quoted Yu as saying.
Chuang also said that the pledge was designed to show the public that the new Cabinet is determined to accomplish the goals and work as a team for the best interests of the nation.
"The premier emphasized that each and every `combative Cabinet' member should work as a team and do their best to accomplish the missions," Chuang said.
In explaining the definition of a "combative Cabinet," Chuang quoted Yu as saying that the term means the new Cabinet will face challenges courageously and take the initiative to identify problems and solve them without hesitation.
Yu appointed the 39 members of the "combative Cabinet" between Jan. 21 and Jan. 24. Eight of them are women and 16 are holdovers from the previous Cabinet. The average age of the new Cabinet members is 53 years old.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,