Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) said yesterday that he would like to campaign for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in the March election race because "defending government policy was an unalterable mission of appointed officials."
"Given that appointed officials are obliged to explain government policy, I would consider stumping for President Chen. I have the ultimate say of whether to show up in any campaign activity," Lin said at the Legislative Yuan.
Lin was questioned by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers about his job of recovering national assets stolen by the KMT and about his pro-DPP stance.
Lin was the second Cabinet official this week to be grilled by opposition lawmakers over the issue of campaigning for the DPP president.
Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Pan-blue lawmakers blasted Chen for his violation of administrative neutrality.
KMT legislators questioned Lin yesterday on the same issue.
Noting his responsibility for policy interpretation, Lin said he would also participate in pan-blue camp rallies if invited.
The minister dismissed KMT Legislator Lo Ming-tsai's (
Lo blamed Lin for heading the five-person task force unveiled by the Executive Yuan on Wednesday to speed up the disposition of national assets stolen by the KMT.
Lin said: "The pledge to clear up KMT assets obtained by inappropriate means is meant to force the KMT to face public appraisal for its previous conduct. There is no doubt that ministry officials must impartially carry out the investigation, while appointed government officials are responsible for clarifying the policy."
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods