Just one day after fighting off media speculation that the Cabinet would be reshuffled after the Lunar New Year, Premier Yu Shyi-kun confirmed yesterday that Yang Teh-chih (楊德智), chairman of the Veterans Affairs Commission, had expressed his intention to quit for health reasons but will stay on at his post.
"My idea is that while national stability outweighs everything else, I'd like to see every single government official stick to their post until the very last minute," said Yu, whose term will expire in February next year.
Sources at the Cabinet later revealed that Yang made up his mind last night to stay on at the post.
This is the second time in two days that Yu came out to dismiss media speculation about a Cabinet reshuffle.
On Friday, Yu said that the Cabinet would not be reorganized after the Lunar New Year.
He did, however, confirm that defense minister Tang Yao-ming (
Yu made the remarks during his two-day visit to disaster-hit areas in Nantou County. The trip was designed to promote tourism there.
The county is still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake of Sept. 21, 1999. The earthquake, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, was centered in the mountains near Chichi and claimed thousands of lives.
As he was promoting tourism in Nantou, a magnitude-5 earthquake hit Nantou County at around 9pm Friday night.
Likening the natural phenomenon to squabbles between married couples, Yu yesterday said that earthquakes should be seen as a part of nature.
"It's healthy that married couples have disagreements every now and then. What's more worrying, however, is those who seldom argue because, when they do, it's highly likely that they might end up with a divorce," he said.
To help boost the nation's tourism industry, Yu said that the government is carefully studying the possibility of building cable cars for 10 of the country's mountain summits.
"Our goal is to encourage more young people, especially high school students, to scale the mountains and enjoy the beauty of nature," Yu said. "The bottom line is, however, that the construction of such facilities cannot wreck the ecosystem or landscape of the mountains."
In addition, the government is considering offering subsidies to private organizations inviting international groups to hold conferences here.
"The tourism industry is the key to a nation's development. It's the best and fastest way to boost a nation's economy and lower its unemployment rate," he said. "Our goal is to see the number of foreign tourists visiting Taiwan doubled in six years."
The tourist program is part of the Cabinet's NT$2.6 trillion six-year national development project. It aims to raise the number of international travelers to Taiwan from the current 2.6 million a year to more than 5 million before 2008.
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