Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday to clear up confusion over comments made about the premiership.
Both Ma and Wang later dismissed a media report carried in yesterday's evening paper saying that Ma had apologized for a "blunder" he had made.
Ma on Sunday said that Wang would be selected to head a new Cabinet. However, both Wang and the Presidential Office immediately denied Ma's comments.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
After his 90-minute meeting with Ma yesterday, Wang told reporters that President Chen Shui-bian (
Wang said he suggested to the president that Ma would make a good premier.
Ma told reporters that his sole intention in making the premiership issue public was to "protect" Wang, and insisted that it would require party-to-party talks.
He also said he would be happy to discuss the issue with the president.
Wang thanked Ma for making the effort to "protect" him and said that there was no communication problem between him and Ma.
Wang yesterday said a Cabinet reshuffle was one of the topics he discussed with the president on Saturday and that he had never considered taking up the job, nor did he want to.
"We first talked about the arms procurement plan, then about the confirmation of the president's selection of Control Yuan members and then cross-strait issues," Wang said. "We then talked about the Cabinet reshuffle and other important government bills."
When speaking about the government reorganization, Wang said the president has several options at hand, including retaining Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), appointing another DPP member as premier or recruiting an opposition member to head the administration.
As both the president and Ma have expressed a wish to speak to each other, Wang said that a meeting was necessary and that he was willing to act as a broker to make it possible.
Regarding the arms procurement plan, Ma has made it clear that he will let the KMT caucus handle the issue.
Wang yesterday said the party's arms procurement plan task force will make a recommendation to the caucus.
Wang yesterday also met with former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
Wang said Lien did not comment in detail on the issue, saying only "good."
Wang said he hopes to arrange a time to meet with People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
The KMT caucus yesterday acknowledged the Wang-Ma meeting, saying the two need to talk things over in a bid to resolve misunderstandings and ease tension.
Meanwhile, four DPP lawmakers yesterday said they were opposed to recruiting an opposition member to head the government and called on the president to continue reform.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
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
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
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
RSS