Slightly more than two years after taking power, the DPP will embark on yet another bold reform today when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) assumes the party's chairmanship.
Taking its cue from its European counterparts, the party has also appointed seven lawmakers to top executive posts to shore up communication between its headquarters and legislative caucus.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Through this and other changes, the DPP hopes to restore its dynamism and gear up for the mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung in December and the presidential race in 2004.
Lawmakers Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉), Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), who will head the party's departments of information, policy, and international affairs, respectively, are expected to play key roles.
Top gun returns
Dynamic, idealistic and articulate, Luo has always been ready to serve Chen.
Though a freshman lawmaker, he is no novice in playing the party's spokesman.
Luo, 36, held the same post between July 1999 and March 2000 and succeeded in helping Chen win the presidency.
He was director of the Information Department under Taipei City Government when Chen was mayor. Luo attributes his appointment to the party's wish to internalize in line with the legislature's rising importance in national politics.
"The party's main duty is to help the government make and execute policies," he said. "My department will strive to act as a nexus between the party, the government and the people so the latter may recognize the efforts the DPP has put in to promote their welfare."
Luo said he expected his job to be more challenging this time as the public will expect more of the party now that it is in power.
He did not deny that the series of reforms are related to the year-end mayoral race and the 2004 presidential elections.
"We must make preparations way ahead" to avoid being voted out in light of the sharp competition between the ruling and opposition camps, Luo said.
He is also a key member of the campaign team for Lee Ying-yuan (
The lawmaker said he had intended to focus on one thing at a time, but the party's lack of talent prodded him to accept his new appointment.
"It is time the party introduced new blood and allow younger people to shoulder greater responsibilities," he said, explaining why he hired a vice spokesman.
Luo jokingly added that when he agreed to take up the post, the president knew he would have to put up again with his meticulous style of doing business that borders on nitpicking.
Pro-independence theorist
Dubbed a pro-independence theorist, Lin Cho-shui has recently been named to lead the DPP's Policy, Research and Coordinating Committee.
Analysts have linked his appointment to Chen's wish to consolidate traditional DPP supporters.
The four-term lawmaker said he will seek to establish a platform of communication between the Cabinet and the legislature by strengthening the function of his committee.
To that end, Lin suggests providing the committee members with staffers so they may enhance their policy-making ability.
The committee is composed of 12 DPP conveners from the legislature's 12 standing committees. They are responsible for contacting their Cabinet liaisons.
"While in opposition, the DPP did a better job of setting the nation's political agenda," Lin said. "The committee will try to restore the dynamism without compromising political stability."
Under his stewardship, the committee will also help downsize the government, saying that as lawmakers, they do not have to worry about resistance within the Cabinet, he said.
The Cabinet has said it will cut the number of ministries and departments by one-third before 2004 in a bid to make the government smaller and more efficient.
Lin is also a prolific writer. He has written eight books chronicling his views on the country's political and economic policies.
A heavyweight of the party's New Tide faction, known for its staunch pro-independence stance, the lawmaker said he will try his best to help the party realize its long-cherished goals.
Brainy beauty
Time and again, Hsiao Bi-khim, the incoming director of the DPP International Affairs Department, has to beg the press to focus its attention on her professional performance rather than her appearance.
It will be the third time Hsiao, 31, is taking charge of the party's international affairs, a field to which she has devoted herself over the past decade.
"Before coming to power, the DPP sought to reverse the world opinion of the party being radical," she said. "Now the department will place more emphasis on joining international organizations."
Born to a Taiwanese father and American mother, Hsiao was born in Japan, grew up in southern Taiwan and studied in the US after completing junior high school here.
She first dabbled in international affairs during a trip to Taiwan in 1991. Though a college student, Hsiao wrote Annette Lu (
Later she worked as the party's US-based activity organizer.
With a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies, she was soon promoted to the head of the International Affairs Department when Hsu Hsin-liang (
After the transfer of power, the president made her an English assistant. Widely recognized as one of the most beautiful female politicians in Taiwan, Hsiao has been plagued by romantic scandals.
In November 2000, the Journalist magazine quoted Lu as saying she was involved in a romantic relationship with Chen. Though the rumor proved to be false, Hsiao left the Presidential Office and threw herself into the legislative elections last year.
"I wish the media could shift their attention away from my private life and focus on my professional performance," she said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS