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Spokeswoman: no Cabinet shake-up

The Presidential Office yesterday said that the government has no plans for a reshuffling of the Cabinet.

"Recent speculation by the media about who will be replaced is not true," said Executive Yuan Secretary-General Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳).

"Premier Yu Shyi-kun personally made phone calls to the ministers [mentioned in the reports] at the first opportunity on Wednesday to tell them not to believe those rumors."

Yu yesterday went to the Presidential Office to attend a routine meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Liu briefed the media on the meeting, saying that Chen and Yu had discussed general government operations and policy-making and had also discussed the cabinet.

Sources in the Presidential Office echoed Liu, saying that the makeup of the Cabinet is not Chen's top concern and that his primary concern right now is to stabilize the domestic and cross-strait situations and to clarify Taiwan's position to the benefit of the international community.

"The opinion polls show that support for Premier Yu and the Cabinet has increased since the presidential election, which represents the public's approval of the government's performance," Liu said.

"But out of respect to the new president, Premier Yu has asked me to produce a report on the achievements and performance of all ministers, including their contributions to the presidential campaign, to allow the new premier to make an evaluation of them," she said.

"The media may be tired of covering the pan-blue camp's protest events and are just trying to develop a new news agenda," a source in the Presidential Office said.

"It seems that the resignation of the director of the National Security Bureau has triggered the media's eagerness to get scoops about changes in the government's personnel," the source said.

The source said that in accordance with convention, Yu and the entire Cabinet will resign before the president's inauguration to allow the incoming president to appoint a new premier.

"Discussion between the president and the premier about the cabinet line-up is likely to get underway in late April," the source said.

Chen told the media before the presidential election that the election was not just a test for him and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) but also for Yu and the Cabinet.

"If I pass, [Yu] will also have passed," Chen then said.

Chen's remarks were interpreted by some to mean that Yu would remain in his post if Chen were re-elected.

Since the election, Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) offered his resignation to the premier, saying that he had accomplished his aim of serving for a period as a government official and now expects to return to academic life.

Lin, formerly of National Taiwan University, and who also served as a senior advisor to the National Security Council, remains an important political aide to both Chen and Yu.
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