Pingtung County Commissioner Su Chia-chuan (
"Due to his extensive political experience, the premier thought Commissioner Su was the best person to fill the vacancy," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
Su served as a lawmaker between 1993 and 1997, and is serving his second four-year term as Pingtung County commissioner.
PHOTO: WEI BIN, TAIPEI TIMES
Yu Cheng-hsien tendered his resignation on Sunday over the election-eve shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (
According to Lin, both the premier and the president highly appreciated Su's performance over the years and were confident that he would do a good job.
Earlier yesterday morning, Lin told a press conference that the premier would not announce the new minister by May 12, when the premier leads Cabinet officials, including the new interior minister, to resign en masse in accordance with the Constitution that the Cabinet must vacate its posts before the inauguration of the new president. Chen will be sworn in for his second four-year term on May 20.
"Respecting Minister Yu's personal wishes and acknowledging his courage to shoulder the political onus, the premier approved the minister's resignation on the evening of Sunday and is looking for his successor," Lin told the press conference held at the Cabinet yesterday morning.
Lin said that the premier hoped Yu Cheng-hsien would stand fast at his post until the new minister is found.
Yu Cheng-hsien, who was originally scheduled to hold a press conference yesterday morning to officially announce his resignation, decided to take a five-day vacation starting yesterday and ask his secretary to read an announcement.
In the statement, Yu Cheng-hsien said that he offered his resignation verbally on March 19, the day of the attempted assassination, in an effort to assume political responsibility.
He was persuaded by the premier to stay on because of the upcoming presidential election. He then tendered his resignation in writing on Sunday.
Before the dust settled, other possible leading candidates to succeed Yu Cheng-hsien included Minister without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (
When asked by reporters about his intent to take up the post yesterday, Yeh Jiunn-rong said that it was inappropriate for him to make any comment before the premier approaches him about the matter. He, however, added that he would accept the premier's personnel arrangement.
A Cabinet official who asked not to be named said that it did not sound like a bad idea to have a female interior minister since Chen has vowed on various occasions to see more high-ranking female government officials.
Meanwhile, the National Police Administration (NPA) confirmed yesterday that NPA Director-General Chang Si-liang (
As for who will succeed Chang, Lin said that the question is up to the new minister to decide.
According to the press release made available by the NPA, Chang offered his resignation verbally to his direct supervisor Yu Cheng-hsien on the day of the shooting. He agreed to stay on because of the presidential election and the subsequent mass protests. He told lawmakers and reporters on Sunday that he would submit his resignation yesterday morning to take full responsibility for the assassination attempt.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the