Straits Exchange Foundation Vice Chairman Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐) yesterday accepted an offer to take charge of the Coast Guard Administration, the Cabinet said yesterday.
The 52-year-old Shi was appointed to his present position in 1998. He served as vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council between 1996 and 1997 and worked in the secretariat of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from 1997 to 1998.
Other Cabinet appointments finalized yesterday include Shih Shou-chian (
Incoming Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) will also double up as minister without portfolio in charge of reviewing health bills and related projects. Chen, 40, obtained his master's degree from Taipei Medical College and has worked as a doctor at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
While Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (
"While the premier hopes to see Tsai, who is an outstanding female administrative officer, stay in the government and continue to serve the country, he will fully respect any decision made by the president because appointing the heads of cross-strait organizations, national defense agencies and diplomats is the duty of the president," Lin said.
Speculation is rife that Lin Bih-jaw (林碧炤), professor of international relations at National Chengchi University, will succeed Tsai if Chen Shui-bian and Yu are unable to persuade Tsai to stay.
With the premier scheduled to lead the Cabinet next Wednesday in a resignation en masse, as required, Lin Chia-lung said Yu hoped to finalize the new Cabinet line-up by the end of this week.
And while Chen Shui-bian will hand-pick the new defense minister and head of the Mainland Affairs Council, Lin Chia-lung said that Yu was still looking for a new head for the National Youth Commission and two more ministers without portfolio.
Chen Shui-bian has pledged that the new head of the National Youth Commission will be "the youngest person in the Cabinet," and preferably a woman under 35.
Lin Chia-lung said the premier had some candidates in mind but had not yet reached a decision.
There are seven ministers without portfolio in charge of reviewing bills across seven different fields. The other two positions relate to finance and the economy, culture, education and welfare.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as
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