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 National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS