Chief of the General Staff General Lee Jye (
Premier Yu Shyi-kun will lead the Cabinet in resigning en masse today in accordance with constitutional precedent. The new Cabinet line-up will officially be announced on May 20, the date of the presidential inauguration.
Lee's appointment did not come as a surprise as it is an established tradition to promote the chief of the general staff to minister of national defense.
Speculation was rife that Li Tien-yu (
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
"Besides, it's inappropriate for the Cabinet to comment on the matter now because it's the president's business," Lin said.
Yu yesterday also received outgoing Veterans Affairs Commission Chairman Teng Tsu-lin (鄧祖琳). Lin said that Yu had promised Teng a post at a representative office in Europe.
Teng's job at the Veterans Affairs Commission will be filled by Kao.
Kao, 58, was appointed to his current position in January last year. He served as the director of the joint-operations training and doctrine office of the Ministry of National Defense from 2002 to last year and was deputy commander in chief of the army in 2001 and 2002.
Also in the armed forces, the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, Lieutenant-General Dai Po-te (
General Chu Kai-sheng (
In other appointments, Hsu Jan-yau (許璋瑤) will replace Hale Liu (劉三錡) as head of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. Hsu was Liu's deputy. Liu yesterday accepted an offer to serve as an adviser to the president.
Fu Li-yeh (傅立葉), an associate professor of sociology at National Chengchi University, also yesterday accepted Yu's offer to take up the position of minister without portfolio in charge of culture, education and welfare.
Yu is still looking to fill the remaining vacancy for minister without portfolio in charge of finance and economics.
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