Premier Frank Hsieh (
After the Legislature made the decision to cut two-thirds from the Cabinet's annual budget proposal on Thursday, Cabinet Secretary-General and Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (
Hsieh and Cho scheduled a press conference for late Friday night when they had finished discussing the issue with other Cabinet members.
The press conference, however, was later canceled.
Sources said that Hsieh decided to hold back on the idea because he realized that he did not have the full support of the Presidential Office on the issue.
Although Hsieh visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Friday night, he did not express his gratitude toward Wang and his fellow lawmakers, nor did he mention anything about the request to reconsider the budget.
Cho said that he could not make the contents of the conversation between the premier and the president public. But he told reporters that the president was not too keen on the idea of asking the Legislature to reconsider the budget because it would require the agreement of half of the legislative floor.
"As a result, we are not too confident about it, either," he said.
The secretary-general and spokesman said that Hsieh was busy meeting with Cabinet members and discussing whether they should file the request throughout the day yesterday and a final decision would be made by tomorrow.
According to analysis in a report by the local Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday, Cho said the president might take advantage of the statement the premier made on Friday, when he said "if the Cabinet's request to reconsider the budget is declined by the Legislature, I will take the political responsibility," to relieve Hsieh of his position. Cho said the final decision on whether to file the request has nothing to do with protecting the premier's position.
"To file the request is just the way we handle things. It is not the end goal we are looking for," Cho said. "As government officials, we need money in order to work for the people, so we must do this anyway."
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2