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Ma, Liu mull Cabinet reshuffle

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that he and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were studying the possibility of reshuffling the Cabinet. Details will be announced “at an appropriate time” when a decision is made, he said.

“President Ma and I are pondering a [Cabinet reshuffle]. We will explain the matter to the public at the proper time,” he said yesterday after attending the opening ceremony of IT Month at the Taipei World Trade Center.

Liu, however, said the recent resignation of Gordon Chen (陳樹) as chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) had nothing to do with the possible Cabinet reshuffle.

The Government Information Office announced Chen’s resignation in a press release on Friday night, and said Chen had submitted his letter of resignation on Nov. 19 because the FSC’s efforts to combat the financial crisis had received “neither applause nor support.”

The release said the premier had approved Chen’s resignation and tapped Sean Chen, chairman of SinoPac Financial Holdings (永豐金控) and a former vice minister of finance, to take over the post.

Liu yesterday said he had given a lot of thought to Gordon Chen’s resignation last week, and decided to respect his decision and accept his resignation.

It was widely speculated among local media outlets, such as the Chinese-language United Daily News, that Gordon Chen offered his resignation after being pressured by the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan.

It was also speculated that following Chen’s resignation, the Presidential Office and the Cabinet would replace more Cabinet members with weak performance.

The Presidential Office yesterday denied that it had pressured Gordon Chen to resign, as well as planning to have a small-scale Cabinet reshuffle around the Lunar New Year holidays.

“Do not believe the rumors or spread the rumors ... The government is focused on improving the economy and making people’s lives better,” Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) said yesterday after attending the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) central committee meeting.

Unsatisfied with the country’s economic situation since Ma was inaugurated on May 20, the Democratic Progressive Party has been pressing the president to replace the premier and to revamp the Cabinet.

According to the latest Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) report released earlier this month, Taiwan’s economy posted negative growth of 1.02 percent in the third quarter of this year and is likely to see further negative growth of 1.73 percent in the fourth quarter.

The DGBAS also forecast that the country’s economic growth would probably stand at 1.87 percent for the whole of this year and 2.12 percent for next year.

The latest forecast marks a significant revision compared with the previous outlook, issued in August before the current global financial crisis became obvious. That forcast projected growth of 4.3 percent for this year and 5.08 percent for next year.

Also See: Reshuffle in limbo as Sean Chen steps in

Also See: EDITORIAL: Changing more than Chen
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