Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) will remain in office as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) considers rejecting the resignation of Chang's Cabinet, paving the way for the continuation of its duties until May 20, when a new president is to be inaugurated, Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (李南陽) said yesterday.
"President Chen will ask Premier Chang to stay on in order to maintain political stability in Taiwan," Lee said in response to a reporter's question.
He said Chang would decide who will remain in his Cabinet.
Lee said Chen was mulling whether to directly return the joint resignation letter from Chang or to abide by the constitutional method of reappointing Chang as premier.
Chang and the Cabinet resigned on Thursday in line with the practice before a newly elected legislature is convened, but this would be reversed if the mass resignation were rejected.
The new legislature, elected on Jan. 12, will open its inaugural session on Feb. 1.
The constitutional convention was established by an October 1995 constitutional interpretation, which said that the practice was based on the rationale that the executive shall be responsible to the legislature.
The premier's resignation has been discussed in light of a 1997 Constitutional amendment that gives the president the power to choose the premier without the consent of the legislature.
Although the amendment stipulates that a premier is not required to resign when a new legislature is elected, all former premiers have followed convention and tendered their resignations.
Establishing a new constitutional convention, as Chen suggested, would eliminate the problem of a Cabinet forming twice in about three months when the four-year-term legislature is sworn in on Feb. 1 and the four-year-term president is inaugurated on May 20.
Approached by the media to comment on the matter, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said that if Chang stayed on as premier he would be shouldering a painful responsibility rather than enjoying power.
At a separate setting yesterday,DPP caucus whip Wang Tuoh (
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG AND DPA
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
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
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
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
RSS