The Executive Yuan yesterday announced a Cabinet reshuffle, appointing four ministers and confirming rumors circulating ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that the government was considering a reshuffle to improve policy implementation.
Deputy Minister of Education Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) has been appointed minister of science and technology; former deputy minister of health Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) has been tapped to head the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) has been appointed council of agriculture minister; and Minister Without Portfolio Lin Mei-chu (林美珠), who is also President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cousin, has been appointed minister of labor.
Lin Mei-chu’s specialty in law will be a boon for the government following amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), Executive Yuan spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Lin Mei-chu is expected to shoulder the responsibility of communicating with the public on the controversial amendments, the Executive Yuan said, adding that she would be retaining her position as minister without portfolio.
Lin Tsung-hsien, 55, comes from a family of farmers and studied at then-National Chiayi Institute of Agriculture, now National Chiayi University, the Executive Yuan said, adding that with such a background, the government hopes Lin Tsung-hsien will be suited to promote the government’s agricultural policies.
Chen Shih-chung promised that the policy of including doctors under the Labor Standards Act would not be changed, saying that “medical services are a part of the service sector.”
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
He cited drafting the white paper for the Tsai administration’s medical policies as his qualifications for accepting the position.
Regarding a controversy over the government’s plan to lift a ban on food imports from five Japanese prefectures, Chen Shih-chung said Taiwan must connect with the world and should base its decisions on facts.
He rejected the notion that ministers without portfolios have greater power than ministers, saying that the former are tasked with policy instruction, while the latter focus on implementation.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said the party would not comment on the appointments until it observes the new ministers.
Implementing reform is not a 100m dash and the Cabinet should focus on communication and building consensus, he said.
Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions chairman Mao Chen-fei (毛振飛) said he did not have high expectations for Lin Mei-chu because of her specialty in law.
Screengrab from Taipei Medical University’s Web site
Lin Mei-chu is a foreign name to the labor sector, Mao said, adding that from his experience law experts are cold and rigid.
“Law is not everything,” Mao said, citing the example of former minister of labor Jennifer Wang (王如玄), also a legal expert, who filed a lawsuit against workers protesting the closure of the factory they worked at.
Additional reporting by Cheng Hung-ta and CNA
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS