Premier-designate Frank Hsieh (
"I invited Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] Vice Chairman Chiang to join my Cabinet and serve as vice premier, but Chiang said he was not interested in the position because of the state of his health," Hsieh said.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has asked Chen to hand over the power to form the Cabinet to the pan-blue camp because the opposition alliance had retained its majority in the legislature.
Lien had also suggested that Chiang, former chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development and a former minister of economic affairs, should be the new premier and so boost the nation's economy.
Commenting on Chiang's apparent rejection of the deal, Lien yesterday said KMT members would not join Hsieh's Cabinet.
"Our principle is to form the Cabinet by the party, not by individual party members," Lien said.
"The DPP has tried to lure KMT members in an attempt to divide the party. We do not agree that individual KMT members should take Cabinet position," Lien added. "This violates party politics."
In selecting the new Cabinet, Hsieh is thought to be leaving space for members of the opposition alliance in a bid for reconciliation with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang said that Chiang refused the offer because of his health, but also said that the KMT had not been consulted over the offer.
Chiang's office, however, yesterday said it was not aware that Hsieh had made the offer.
"We never heard about that," an office spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Hsieh named Deputy Minister of Justice Morley Shih (
Hsieh also named Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (
Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) will retain their posts.
When asked by reporters whether DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
"Shih is an experienced head of a prosecutor's office and has a very good reputation among prosecutors," Hsieh said.
Shih, 58, formerly headed the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office. He was appointed vice minister of justice in November.
Shih will be the second prosecutor to head the ministry. Like Hsieh and Chen, Shih is a graduate of National Taiwan University's College of Law.
Cho, 49, is a former legislator and the director of the DPP's department of social development. Cho and Hsieh are thought to have a close political relationship.
"We have ideas in common, and Cho will be able to express my ideas and policies very capably," Hsieh said yesterday.
‘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
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
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS