One day before the inauguration of the new Cabinet, a farewell party was held yesterday for six outgoing Cabinet officials whose offices are located inside the Cabinet complex.
Among the six Cabinet members honored was Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (林信義). Lin, 58, is the first entrepreneur in the nation's history to become a Cabinet official. His hands-on experience in the private sector and extensive political connections won him recognition from both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party governments.
In 1997, former premier Vincent Siew (
`Taiwan's Lee Iacocca'
In 2000, under the administration of President Chen Shui-bian (
Calling Lin "the ROC government's Lee Iacocca," Premier Yu Shyi-kun lauded Lin for bringing industrial management techniques to the civil sector. Yu gave Lin a ceramic bitter squash in a glass box to show that Lin had helped lead Taiwan through "bitter days."
One of Lin most memorable comments regarding the global and local economic downturn was his calling for the public to brace for "bitter days."
Another of the six was Cabinet Secretary-general Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳), who at 45 is the youngest-ever Cabinet secretary-general and the first woman to hold the position.
`A 24-hour 7-eleven'
Liu was director of the Bureau of Environmental Protection of the Taipei City Government when Chen Shui-bian was Taipei mayor. She later took up the post of deputy commissioner of Taichung County.
Calling Liu a "24-hour 7-Eleven" and an "iron lady," Yu extolled Liu's devotion to her job. Yu has jokingly said that he would like to introduce his 20-something son to Liu, who is still single.
Liu will begin a fellowship of one year at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC next month. She plans to do research on Taiwan's democratization and on the relationship among Taiwan, China and the US.
Also honored was Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
Calling him a "rising star today and tomorrow" and "manager of the government's image," Yu complimented Lin Chia-lung on his work ethic.
calls late at night
"I've learned that he, who has his telephone turned on 24 hours a day, has often gotten telephone calls from female reporters after midnight," Yu said.
"But as far as I understand, it's purely business, so I'm not that worried after all," he said.
The other Cabinet members honored were Ministers without Portfolio Tsai Ching-yen (
Lin Chia-lung will now head the Government Information Office, Chen has been appointed chairman of the Council for Cultural Affairs and Yeh will take the top job at the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission.
Earlier yesterday, Yu presented Lin Hsin-i and 13 other Cabinet officials with the highest medals available for civil servants in appreciation of their outstanding service. They included Liu; Tsai; Eugene Chien (
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS