Premier Frank Hsieh (
"When he [Lien] visited me in Kaohsiung in August 2000, I promised to return his visit. I hope I'll be able to do that in the near future," Hsieh said. "We can discuss many things, including the vice premiership."
If the KMT insists on inter-party negotiation, Hsieh said, he will let Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
"Hopefully, we'll be able to finalize the appointment before the eve of the Lunar New Year or before the new legislature convenes in the middle of this month," he said. "Now the ball is in their court and it all depends on Lien's will."
If the KMT refuses the offer, Hsieh said that he does not rule out the possibility of recruiting someone from the People First Party (PFP) or someone without any political affiliation.
"We do have other choices because we cannot wait forever. I hope he joins our team because he would make a better contribution to the country in the capacity of vice premier than as a legislator-at-large," he said.
Hsieh made the remarks yesterday morning during a radio interview.
Hsieh said that he had not directly contacted Chiang about the position and that Chiang is not the only pan-blue member he has consulted thus far.
"Their answers are consistent: either they respect the decision of their party or they don't rule out the possibility if their party allows it," he said.
When asked whether it was his idea or that of President Chen Shui-bian (
Praising Chiang's economic expertise, Hsieh said that the choice was made to supplement a lack of economic professionals in the Cabinet. Chiang served as the minister of economic affairs between 1993 and 1996 and as chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development from 1996 to 2000.
Although Chiang has been promoting the idea of using China as an "economic hinterland," Hsieh said that he thought Chiang's economic concept echoed the DPP-led government's economic strategy of "mapping the global market" rather than contradicting it.
Hsieh also defended his recent remarks about "one China" and halting the campaign to change names of government agencies, which has led die-hard pro-independence supporters to think that he is attempting to woo pan-blue supporters.
"It's very important that the public reaches a consensus on such controversial issues," he said. "It's bound to create many problems if the government forcefully pushes them before a public consensus has been reached."
Commenting on Tuesday's elections of legislative heads, Hsieh said that although the DPP lost the battle, he saw the beginnings of goodwill gestures being extended by political parties.
"The arrival of swallows may not signal the coming of spring, but they at least bring the message of spring," he said.
Hsieh said that it is important to promote talks and negotiations with opposition parties, especially about controversial bills. He also pledged to prioritize bills in order to improve the odds of passing them in the legislature and to personally visit opposition lawmakers or leaders, if necessary, to win their support for government bills.
When asked about whether there is any "1992 consensus," Hsieh remained evasive and said that cross-strait exchange and direct transportation links could take place with or without the consensus.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
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,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift