To meet what he called a public expectation of rapid government reforms, Premier Yu Shyi-kun decided to bring forward the date on which Cabinet officials resign en masse from May 12 to possibly April 28.
"Premier Yu has suggested the change to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)," said Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday. "The possible date is April 28."
In accordance with the Constitution, the entire Executive Yuan must resign before the new president is inaugurated. However, media speculation on a Cabinet reshuffle has had a corrosive impact on the morale of the government, with a number of Cabinet officials offering their resignations to the premier before that date.
"Bringing forward the date of the resignation of the Cabinet will enable those who will remain in the new Cabinet to continue expanding their experience sooner, while enabling new appointees to get to work and start experiencing public administration as early as possible," Lin said.
Since the March 20 presidential election, the interior minister and foreign minister have been replaced. Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) has also stated that due to ill health he will only remain in his post until May 20. Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) is expected to move on as well.
Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) and Executive Yuan Secretary-General Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) also expressed their desire this week to step down, prompting Chen to widen the scale of the Cabinet reshuffle he originally said would be "small-scale."
"President Chen and Premier Yu hope to promote more women. For this reason, Hakka Affairs Commissioner Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), Council of Labor Affairs Chairperson Chen Chu (陳菊) and Deputy Chairperson of the Council for Economic Planning and Development Ho Mey-yueh (何美玥) could be promoted," said a senior Executive Yuan official.
According to the official, Yeh was the favored choice to succeed Lin Hsin-i, while Ho would likely replace Lin Yi-fu.
Decisions on filling top Presidential Office posts would be deferred for the time being, since these posts were more closely bound to the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) election strategy for the December legislative poll. For this reason, the president was not yet in a position to promote new blood.
"Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) has to look after the overall planning of election matters and coordinate with the [DPP], the Executive Yuan and all other affected agencies," a source from the Presidential Office said.
"It's therefore inappropriate at this stage to change the responsibilities of important figures in these positions. At this early stage, Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (
"In any case, [Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has not agreed to serve as representative to the US, which has caused the president to delay appointments in areas such as cross-strait relations, foreign affairs and national security," the source said.
As to suggestions the president was intending to promote outstanding DPP, Taiwan Solidarity Union or independent legislators, this was purely speculative.
"The likes of Luo Wen-chia (
Tsai said that a number of ambitious legislators believed that the new Cabinet would only be an interim one.
These legislators believed that the most important task facing the Cabinet was to stabilize the political situation in the run-up to the December elections, Tsai said.
If the DPP won an absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan, more talented members would wish to join the Cabinet, he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching