President Chen Shui-bian (
The Presidential Office is due to publish the list of senior advisors and national policy advisors to the president today when the one-year tenure for incumbent positions expires.
Most of the 100-plus advisors will stay on, sources close to the president said, adding that a dozen or so will be removed for possessing dual citizenship.
King, a long-time independence advocate, will remain at her post, they said.
The tough-talking advisor created uproar during her recent trips back to Taiwan during which she refused to count herself as a citizen of the Republic of China.
"The ROC has long ceased to exist," she said. The remarks outraged opposition lawmakers who have since pressed for her dismissal. Pro-independence activists, on the other hand, have come to her defense. Wary of entering the row, the president has said he does not always agree with his advisors but respects their freedom of speech.
Some DPP lawmakers have suggested that King must take the initiative to tender her resignation, while others have said she will never quit voluntarily.
Prominent industrialists Nita Ing (
The president is to leave certain posts open to allow some aides to resume their posts after taking measures to comply with nationality guidelines.
Chen Chao-chuan (陳朝傳), owner of Shihlin Paper Co, who has been accused of sexual harassment, will probably be dropped for good.
Created in 1948, both classes of aide have traditionally been filled by senior retired officials to keep their prestige aglow -- if only nominally.
Only a handful of advisors keep an office inside the Presidential Office, and there are no regular meetings between the president and the advisors.
Although seldom consulted, a senior advisor receives NT$201,960 in monthly salary as does a vice premier. A national policy advisor receives NT$179,520, the same as a Cabinet minister.
Only 45 advisors are on the government payroll, while the rest perform their services voluntarily.
Shi Wen-long (許文龍), president of Chi Mei Corp, who caused an uproar by telling a Japanese cartoonist that some Taiwan women volunteered to serve as prostitutes for the Japanese army during World War II, will be retained.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
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