Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday appointed Cabinet Spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) as the head of the Overseas Chinese Commission, effective Saturday.
The position has been empty since last September, when Chen Rong-jye (
Since Chuang's successor has not yet been named, Cabinet Secretary-General Liu Shih-fang (
One frontrunner for the position is Government Information Office Director-General Arthur Iap (
Iap, however, told the Taipei Times yesterday that he has no interest in the job.
"If I were interested, I would've taken it as soon as it was offered," he said.
Although Yu was tightlipped about the shift yesterday, he hinted that he was leaning toward Iap for the spokesman's post during the year-end banquet with the media at the Executive Yuan on Monday night.
"He might change his mind and take up the Cabinet spokesman job if you guys jointly sign a petition imploring him to do it," Yu said, jokingly.
Chuang, on the other hand, seemed happy about his move to the commission post.
"I accepted the premier's offer right on the spot when he quizzed me on the matter on Monday night," he said.
Chuang, 48, referred to the spokesperson position as the "fax machine of the premier" when he took the job a year ago. At the time he was vice chairman of the Tai-wan Provincial Government.
Chuang served as political vice minister of the Ministry of Civil Service between 1996 and 2000.
NEW AGREEMENT: Malaysia approved imports last year after nearly two years of negotiations and inspections to meet quarantine requirements, officials said Up to 3.6 tonnes of pomeloes from Taiwan cleared Malaysian customs on Friday, in the first shipment of Taiwanese pomeloes to Malaysia. Taiwan-grown pomeloes are popular in domestic and overseas markets for their tender and juicy taste, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency said. The fruit is already exported to Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines, it added. The agency began applying for access to the Malaysian market in 2023, compiling data on climate suitability, pests and diseases, and post-harvest handling, while also engaging in nearly two years of negotiations with Malaysian authorities and submitting supplementary
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