The Cabinet will be reshuffled after today's elections, Premier Frank Hsieh (
"It is just a matter of how many Cabinet members will be replaced by new faces," Hsieh said.
The premier made the remarks after he was approached by reporters yesterday morning while on a two-day trip to Makung city (
Hsieh also admitted to reporters that his relationship with President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen first won the Taipei mayoral election in 1994. At the time, Chen and Hsieh were in direct competition for the DPP nomination. After DPP members decided to nominate Chen, Hsieh then became Chen's chief of staff at his campaign headquarters.
Four years later, Chen campaigned for re-election against current Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), but he lost. However, during the same round of elections, Hsieh won his first mayoral term in Kaohsiung.
"We were competing with each other before [Chen] became the president. Maybe it is difficult for non-DPP people to understand the relationship but that is how it was," Hsieh said.
The premier made the remarks in reference to comments the president made during a TV interview on Thursday night. Chen said that Hsieh and he have always been good partners within the DPP, but their relationship was tense for a while.
"It was no secret," he said.
After Chen became Taipei mayor and Hsieh became Kaohsiung mayor in turn, a rumor circulated that Hsieh and Chen had tried to ask personal favors of each other and ask that government positions be given to their favorite staff members from the Taipei and Kaohsiung city governments. Both Chen and Hsieh said that this is impossible.
"Hsieh was a winner in Kaohsiung at the same time that I lost in Taipei. It was the end of my world but the beginning of his. How could I dare ask for any personal favors from him when I had lost the election?" Chen said during the interview.
"Although we are partners within the DPP, we still have our own dignity and self-respect. How could we ask personal favors of one another?" Hsieh said yesterday.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost