Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday announced a new Cabinet line-up, changing key posts with a heavy focus on economics.
The premier introduced nine incoming Cabinet members, most notably new minister of economic affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆), an outgoing vice minister of the economic affairs. Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) chairman Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), a outgoing policymaking member of the FSC; and Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TSE) chairman Gordon Chen (陳樹), a outgoing vice minister of finance.
The new appointments allow the premier to better make his mark on the Cabinet, as all of the appointees replace people who had been chosen by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
A high-ranking Cabinet official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that there were a number of reasons for Su to shuffle the posts at this time.
First, the official said, as this is the first shuffle since the president announced in June that he would no longer be involved in Cabinet affairs, it consolidates Su's authority as premier.
Also, the Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development held last week provided Su with a good opportunity to focus on economic issues.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
Finally, Su is leaving for a visit to Chad tomorrow.
When asked whether Chen had been notified of the new personnel arrangements, Su said that the president had already authorized him to take action.
"He [the president] cares about this issue, for sure. But he told me already that I was fully authorized to take care of this myself. When my decision was made, I reported it to the president at the first opportunity," Su said.
PHOTO: TSENG HUI-WEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Among the new posts, the FSC chairmanship was among the most discussed yesterday, because former chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (
However, Su said that recent decisions involving a media watchdog agency gave him the legal authority to appoint a new FSC chief, even though Kong had not resigned.
"According to applicable personnel laws, in the event that someone is suspended, the position will be regarded as a vacancy that can be filled," Su said. "The FSC chairman's spot cannot be left vacant forever."
As of press time, Kong had not said whether he would legally challenge the new appointment.
Other appointments include Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) minister Shih Nun-jeh (施能傑), vice minister of the interior Lin Mei-chu (林美珠), Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics vice minister Lu Du-chin (鹿篤瑾), RDEC vice minister Liu Chien-hsin (劉建忻), TSE general manager Hsu Jen-shou (許仁壽) and GRETAI Securities Market chairman Lu Daung-yen (呂東英).
Meanwhile, additional Cabinet appointments will be made when Su returns to Taiwan after his visit to Chad, Cabinet officials said.
also see stories:
Steve Chen outlines economic goals
New FSC chief vows to rebuild trust in watchdog
Gordon Chen appointed stock exchange chairman
‘UNFRIENDLY’: Changing the nationality listing of Taiwanese residents to ‘China’ goes against EU foreign policy as well as democratic and human rights principles, MOFA said Taiwan yesterday called on Denmark to correct its designation of the nationality of Taiwanese residents as “China” or face retaliatory measures. The Danish government in 2024 changed the nationality of Taiwanese citizens on their residence permits from “Taiwan” to “China.” The decision goes against EU foreign policy and contravenes democratic and human rights principles, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said. Denmark should present a solution acceptable to Taiwan as soon as possible and correct the erroneous designation to preserve the longstanding friendship between the two nations, Hsiao said. The issue could damage Denmark’s image and business reputation in Taiwan,
Taiwan climbed to its highest position in global export rankings in more than three decades last year, buoyed by demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) that lifted shipments of semiconductors and technology products, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed. Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent of global exports last year, or about US$640 billion, ranking 12th worldwide, the data showed. That was up four places from a year earlier and marked the nation’s best ranking since 1994, the ministry said. Taiwan’s share of global exports rose by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, the largest increase among major economies, reflecting the nation’s
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS