The Cabinet will be dissolved and reformed before the Legislative Yuan begins its next session, and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is the most likely person to become the new premier, party officials said yesterday.
The officials, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the victory of former Presidential Office secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun, who won the election with over 50 percent of the vote, established a new power structure in the party. This meant that a Cabinet reshuffle could move forward.
Yu's victory also paved the way for a return to politics by Su, who would take over the premiership. Su has been tapped by some party insiders as a possible contender for the DPP's 2008 presidential nomination.
Meanwhile, Premier Frank Hsieh (
As to the timetable for a Cabinet reshuffle, the DPP officials said that negotiations could take place before the Lunar New Year, with the final decision made after the holiday.
The next legislative session will begin in early February, and the new Cabinet should be in place by that time.
The officials said that, since the DPP's setback in the recent local-government elections, President Chen Shui-bian (
The preference among the party's leaders has been to let Su lead the Cabinet and Yu lead the party.
A reshuffle would also allow the administration to deal with another potential problem it faces: the rejection of its annual budget proposal by the Legislative Yuan.
Last week, the Cabinet decided to file a request asking the legislature to reconsider the proposal.
But this move did not have the full support of the Presidential Office, as well as a good number of DPP officials, since the idea of asking the legislature to reconsider the budget would likely result in another setback for the Chen administration, given the pan-blue camp's legislative clout, the officials said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS