Chu was an outstanding young talent, Wang said.
Faced with such a “tough task,” Wu told reporters that he hoped to continue the work of Liu’s team to improve the economy. He also said he would step down from his two KMT posts.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus praised Liu and his Cabinet for resigning, but expressed surprise at Wu’s appointment.
DPP lawmakers, who watched the Presidential Office’s announcement of Wu’s appointment on TV, lauded Liu’s resignation and said Ma was truly one of the world’s “gutsiest” leaders, as he has been described by the US satirical magazine, mental_floss.
“It was a day full of surprises,” the lawmakers said.
DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said Liu resigned because he had listened to the public, adding that he hoped the new Cabinet would be more efficient.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) gave Liu credit for taking political responsibility and stepping down.
Liu’s resignation was in line with public opinion because many people were dissatisfied with the Cabinet’s performance, Huang said.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), however, said Liu should have resigned earlier, adding that Ma had only approved Liu’s resignation because public feeling was so overwhelming.
The DPP caucus slammed Wu’s nomination as “unacceptable.”
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) also lauded Liu for stepping down and gave Wu her best wishes.
Asked if she had any reservations about Wu’s ability to be premier, Lo said: “Ask other members [of the KMT caucus] and you will see.”
She did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, Ma was heckled by a typhoon victim in Pingtung County yesterday. The woman asked that Ma step down if Liu refused to resign to take responsibility for the government’s slow response to Morakot.
Chanting “This man should step down” and holding a banner that read “Why not come for a long stay?” the woman said the government’s relief efforts had embarrassed the country.
“He [Ma] is staying in an air-conditioned room. He should come down here to see things for himself,” she said. “They clean the streets before he comes, but it is superficial.”
The government held a national memorial service for typhoon victims in Kaohsiung yesterday, but one survivor said he could not attend because there was no transportation.
Another woman said she could not go because the engine of her car was gone.
In related news, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said in Japan yesterday that many Japanese friends had given him donations for Morakot victims because they didn’t know how or where to send the money.
Meanwhile, representative to Japan John Feng (馮寄台) declined to comment yesterday on why he was in Europe at the height of the disaster.
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