Senior adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) will serve as acting Kaohsiung mayor, while Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), secretary-general of the Executive Yuan, will serve as Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) chairman, the Cabinet spokesman said yesterday.
Yeh is to take the position left vacant by Chen Chi-mai (
"Our priority is to remain steady," said Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (
According to Cho, Premier Frank Hsieh (
Immediately following that, the premier met with the president to discuss potential candidates for the two vacancies, Cho said. After the meeting, Hsieh decided that Chen Chi-mai and Chen Chu will not be assigned to new posts at this point, and that Yeh and Lee will take over the vacant posts.
To be the acting mayor for Kaohsiung, Yeh said she will resign as senior presidential adviser before she takes oath for the new job.
Yeh vowed to continue the construction project as planned, so that residents will be even prouder of their city, saying that the MRT system must be completed as soon as possible and that preparations for the 2009 World Games in the port city will be carried out relentlessly.
Yeh, 56, is a legislator-turned-politician who has served as minister of transportation and communications, Council for Hakka Affairs chairman, and vice premier.
Saying that she is no stranger to major urban construction projects, Yeh vowed to work with the Kaohsiung City Government administrative team to serve the people.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed CLA chairman pledged to protect and uphold the rights of laborers, adding that he "will not let the DPP or the laborers down."
Lee, 52, is a medical professor-turned-politician who has previously served as a legislator and as vice representative to the US, as well as vice secretary-general of the DPP.
Meantime, Hsieh asked Cho to take on Lee's former responsibilities and simultaneously continue his job as cabinet spokesman. The premier also asked Cho to convene a "spokesperson's group" for the Cabinet, which Cho said was an idea first thought of by the premier approximately three months ago.
Cho said that the team will be comprised of between three and five people.
In addition to the spokesman, the "spokesperson's group" will also include Government Information Office Minister Pasuya Yao (
Other young, dynamic and talented Cabinet members will also be invited to serve, Cho said, without divulging any names.
Speculation by local media indicated that Yeh's appointment might be the result of a DPP plan to nominate Hsieh and Yeh to run on one ticket in the 2008 presidential election, but Hsieh and Yeh yesterday denied the speculation when approached by reporters for comment.
"Please, it is meaningless for you [reporters] to continue your wild guesses," Hsieh said. "As time goes by, you will realize that all these speculations have been worthless."
Yeh said that whoever started such rumors must be a person who does not understand the DPP at all.
"Such an arrangement is quite impossible," she said.
"I am always ready for all kinds of challenges. Right now, I just want to begin my work as soon as possible and re-invigorate the Kaohsiung City Government," she said.
"I have not thought about anything other than this at this time," she said.
In reaction to the news that Yeh had been appointed Kaohsiung's acting mayor, and the rumors that it was because she might become Hsieh's partner in a presidential race, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
"The most important thing right now is to do things for people with down-to-earth attitudes, and the press should not create the impression that the ruling party only cares about the 2008 election," Su said.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS