Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Ma Yung-cheng (
According to a press release issued by the Presidential Office last night, President Chen Shui-bian (
"I've been thankful for [President Chen's] appreciation of my abilities for the past 15 years. Although I've been doing my work cautiously, the heavy duty has become a burden too heavy to carry," Ma said in his resignation letter.
Ma said that after the president stated his ideals and the urge to reform his organization, he realized that resigning from his post would be the best thing he could do.
Lin echoed Ma's remarks, and said that he offered his resignation in order to conform with Chen's reform pledge.
Chen announced on Wednesday night that he would delegate his party responsibilities to the premier and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials, and focus solely on doing his job as the president. He also pledged to reorganize the power structure of his administration.
Both Ma and Lin are close aides to Chen who have been assisting the president for years. Ma began working with the president in 1991 while Chen was still a legislator. Later, when Chen became Taipei mayor, Ma became Chen's right-hand man, serving as a coordinator, mediator and policy strategist. Lin was in charge of writing Chen's speeches as president, prior to becoming the National Security Council senior adviser in 2004.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus and major factions within the DPP last night expressed their respect for and support of the president's decision.
"The president's approval of Ma's and Lin's resignations showed his reformative resolve," DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said.
The People First Party caucus, on the other hand, described Chen's decision as a maneuver to protect himself.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
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