With speculation mounting on the makeup of the next Cabinet, President Chen Shui-bian (
Presidential Office spokesman Chen Wen-tsung (陳文宗) confirmed Lee was at the Presidential Office yesterday, on Chen's invitation. The three-hour lunch meeting was private.
The meeting, like Chen's meeting with Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Monday, ignited media attention because of the expected vacancy in the premier's post. Premier Yu Shyi-kun and all Cabinet members will resign in a customary post-election ritual after the current legislative session concludes on Jan. 21.
Rumors have circulated for the last couple of weeks about the possibility of Chen Shui-bian forming a coalition Cabinet with one or more opposition parties. Senior government officials, however, including Yu himself, have been tight-lipped about the pending reshuffle.
Chen Wen-tsung yesterday said nothing relating to the premier's post nor personnel issues were discussed during the president's meeting with Lee.
It remains unclear if Lee, the spiritual leader of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), the Democratic Progressive Party's political ally, has made any recommendations on the makeup of the new Cabinet.
Chen Wen-tsung said that during the meeting Lee talked about his just-completed trip to Japan.
Lee returned on Sunday from a seven-day "sightseeing trip" to Japan. He told a crowd of well-wishers upon arrival at CKS In-ternational Airport that Taiwan-Japanese relations had been advancing quietly and that bilateral ties were now in the best shape since the two countries severed formal diplomatic relations in 1972.
Chen also exchanged views with Lee on the domestic political situation and on how to improve coordination with the opposition camp, Chen Wen-tsung said.
In his New Year's address, the president had highlighted reconciliation, consultation and dialogue between the ruling and the opposition parties as important goals.
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)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite