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 (
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:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
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