Kaohsiung Mayor and premier-designate Frank Hsieh (
"We have many ideas in common. Chen is also a Kaohsiung native, so I have nominated him to fill the post that I will leave vacant," Hsieh said.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hsieh yesterday appointed Albert Lin (林耀文), the director-general of the Kaohsiung City Government's department of information, as special assistant to the premier.
Hsieh said he was communicating with President Chen Shui-bian (
The president departs today on the five-day trip to Palau and the Solomon Islands.
Speaking on his appointment as acting mayor for the southern special municipality, Chen Chi-mai told reporters that "stability, negotiation and progress" were the three principles with which he would run Kaohsiung. His appointment is widely seen as confirmation that he will be the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for Kaohsiung mayor next year.
The new Cabinet will take office on Tuesday.
Hsieh said "the Cabinet line-up will be finalized in two days," adding that he will be in contact with the president during his trip, and that "it is alright" if the president announces the vice premier during this time.
"Changes to the Cabinet will be small," Hsieh said. "The real reshuffling of the Cabinet may take place six months from now."
"Minor adjustments to the Cabinet will leave some room for reconciliation between the government and the opposition alliance," he said.
Hsieh said that delaying substantial change was justified because some members of the Cabinet had joined only recently. In addition, other members of Cabinet needed time to decide if they will be running in the mayoral and county commissioner elections at the end of the year, he said.
Hsieh said May was a good month to make these changes.
Asked about the identity of the next vice premier, Hsieh said he or she would not necessarily be from a financial or economics background.
"Because [Premier] Yu Shyi-kun's Cabinet has done well improving the economic situation, the new Cabinet will focus more on negotiations and dialogue with the opposition and China," he added.
Reports suggest that Chen Chi-mai's replacement might be the only significant new appointment to the new Cabinet.
Chinese-language newspapers have speculated that Vice Minister of Justice Morley Shih (
Shih would replace Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (
Also see story:
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS