Sun, Apr 30, 2000 page2

• Tang Fei returns to the political fray

  HIGH SPIRITS The premier-designate has denied rumors he is tired of his position and has sought to clear the air on a recent row over personnel appointments

  • By Jou Ying-Cheng / STAFF REPORTER,
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  A rested and refreshed Premier-designate Tang Fei (唐飛) yesterday refuted rumors that he was already "tired of" his new job at a press conference as he left the hospital yesterday.

  Tang Fei has been at Veterans General Hospital for two weeks to recover from an operation to remove a benign tumor from his chest.

  During the press conference Tang announced appointments of two Cabinet posts: Lin Chun-yi (林俊義), professor at the Department of Biology, Tunghai University, who will become the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration, and Hsu I-shiung (許義雄), the Director of the Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, who will take the position of head of the National Sports Council.

  

  Accompanied by new Cabinet officials, Premier-designate Tang Fei, second from left, walks out of Veterans' General Hospital in Taipei yesterday.

  PHOTO: SUNG CHI-HSIUNG, LIBERTY TIMES

  Lin, 62, graduated with a BA in English from National Taiwan University (台灣大學) and a doctorate in ecology from the University of Indiana in the US, and was once a research fellow for the Committee on Science under the House of Representatives as well as a former chairman of Taiwan Greenpeace. (綠色和平組織)

  During President-elect Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) tenure as Taipei City Mayor, Lin was director of the Bureau of Environmental Protection (環保局) under the city government.

  The appointment of Lin was reportedly welcomed by environmental activists. National Taiwan University professor Hsu Kuang-jung (徐光蓉) said Lin was the best person to take over the post, and she hoped Lin would review the environmental impact of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Station. Lin is currently in Chicago for a research project on environmental ethics.

  Hsu, 51, has dedicated his career to physical education. He was the convener who lead the drafting of the NSC's "White Paper on the Physical Education in the ROC (中華民國體育白皮書)."

  Hsu once presented an essay -- revealing how he expected Taiwan's physical education to develop -- in a nationwide conference.

  He proposed making physical education a central government-level issue, encouraged research into problems facing professional athletes, and suggested new ways that physical education could help people improve their personal lives.

  Later yesterday, Chen also announced the appointment of Lee Ming-liang (李明亮), the President of the Tzu Chi College of Medicine and Humanities, as the Director-general of the Department of Health.

  Lee, aged 65, graduated from National Taiwan University's College of Medicine. While a student there, Lee used to play the violin for elderly mainlanders who worked at the school's cafeteria.

  Later, he studied hereditary diseases and chromosome abnormality at the pediatrics department of Rochester University in the US. Lee remained in New York between 1963-1992.

  Lee has made great contributions in the field of human genetics studies and is regarded as a preeminent scholar in the area. Lee also spent two years teaching and researching at Cambridge University, one of the few scholars in Taiwan who has studied in both places.

  Lee was invited by Master Cheng Yen upon his return to Taiwan to preside over the establishment Tzu Chi University and has been the president of Tzu Chi College of Medicine and Humanities.

  According to his friends and colleagues, Lee is a straightforward and honest scholar who has devoted himself entirely to academic studies.

  During the past week, local media reports have claimed Tang was having disagreements with Chen over the lineup of the new Cabinet and was already growing "tired" of his future post even before he stepped into office.

  Tang denied such comments saying they were just hearsay.

  He said that during his stay in the hospital, especially the first two days when he was in intensive care, he was out of touch, and that was when these rumors began to spread.

  However, he said, "since I transferred to a common ward, the preparatory work of the Cabinet has been in progress."

  Chen has visited me five times during this period and there have been no obstacles in our communications, Tang said.

  Vice-premier Yu Shyi-kun, Executive Yuan secretary-general Wea Chi-lin (魏啟林), and head of the Government Information Office Chung Chin, (鍾琴), were also present with Tang at the press conference.

  Tang responded to recent complaints from the DPP that there have been unusual and frequent transfers of personnel by the outgoing Cabinet. Tang said the redeployment of personnel during the transition of power was understandable, but suggested laws be established to eliminate misunderstanding.

  "This is the first time in some fifty years that there is such a large-scale personnel change in the Executive Yuan -- nearly 90 percent of politically appointed officials are leaving and being replaced by new people," Tang said.

  "[The arguments] may have been brought up because of different interpretations of the law. We can establish laws to help eliminate these grey areas," he added.

  Yu confirmed that Chen's camp had been irritated by what it thought was improper personnel transfers by the outgoing Cabinet.

  A local news report said that Chen's camp had written a memorandum which said "the new administration would not recognize any personnel change that takes place within one month of the inauguration."

  However, when asked by the media, Yu did not directly confirm the news or comment whether the memorandum had been written.

  Yu did however urge the outgoing Cabinet to respect the new government, especially in the realm of personnel appointments and funds.

  "The future government would be required to take responsibility [for recent appointments]. So, in personnel, public grants and budget affairs, the current government should respect the new government." Yu said.
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