Premier-designate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday announced a slew of further appointments for his new Cabinet as political pundits sought to determine what, if anything, the changes would mean for domestic and cross-strait policy.
Su also insisted he would not become the president's "executive director," in an apparent move to allay concerns raised by a former DPP chairman that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) would keep Su on a short leash.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General James Huang (黃志芳) will take over from Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山), reports said yesterday. Mark Chen is expected to be the next Presidential Office secretary-general.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Meanwhile, Government Information Office Minister Pasuya Yao (
Su also announced that Chiu Kun-liang (邱坤良), the current president of the Taipei National University of the Arts, will become Council for Cultural Affairs minister.
Su's remarks yesterday were seen as a move to address concerns from former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) that Su may play the same limited role as as predecessor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), because the president may treat him like an executive director, leaving him little room to maneuver.
Lin, who was DPP chairman from 1998 to 2000, released an open letter on Saturday calling on the president and the future premier to follow the model prescribed in the Constitution that governs their interaction.
Lin also suggested that the president keep a proper distance from Cabinet members and top executives of state-owned enterprises. He blamed the unstable administrative system of the past five years on the DPP government's failure to follow the principles set forth in the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the opposition questioned the new Cabinet's ability to have any significant impact, saying the picks reflected Chen's interests.
Legislator Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), a KMT legislative caucus whip, said the KMT was disappointed that ideology was still the main concern in Cabinet appointments.
She said the KMT particularly regretted the retention of Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (
Pan added that Tu's educational reform plan had led nowhere, and that as a man obsessed with ideology, he was simply unfit for the job.
"Although Tu has adopted a relatively low profile recently, that does not mean he has changed his mentality and beliefs," she said.
The KMT whip also said that if reports about James Huang becoming the new foreign minister are accurate, it would be another indication that the president wanted someone he could trust to carry out his plans on the diplomatic front.
She added that the opposition would not expect much from the next Cabinet, which is to be sworn in on Wednesday, because Su has already said he would carry out the president's new policy of "active management, effective opening" on cross-strait relations.
Su has retained 12 Cabinet members and replaced nine.
Also see story and editorial:
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS