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.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS