The Presidential Office announced last night that President Chen Shui-bian (
Local press agency CNA reported last night that the post will be filled by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Su Tseng-chang (
CNA cited sources at the Presidential Office as saying that the president would not wait until Monday to name the new premier.
Premier Frank Hsieh (
After the Cabinet resigns, the new premier will be inaugurated immediately, the sources said.
Hsieh said yesterday that the people of Taiwan have the right to be informed about important issues that concern the entire country.
The outgoing premier made the remark in an apparent response to a media report which claimed that Chen was upset about him "talking too much."
Chinese-language newspapers have reported that Chen was irritated by Hsieh talking to the media about the party's negotiations on the future of Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), newly-elected DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, former DPP chairman Su and Hsieh.
"I think it is a good thing to let everybody know how the president is arranging personnel for the government. I don't think that [Chen] would be upset about this," Hsieh said.
In remarks made on Tuesday, Hsieh implied that Su was very aggressive, that he wanted the premier's position and that he was eager to run in the 2008 presidential election as well.
Hsieh said yesterday that it was very kind of the president to spend so much time arranging personnel matters out of concern for unity and cooperation in the DPP.
It is very important that the country's people should know what is going on, Hsieh said.
"Even if the negotiations and the new arrangement do not work out, it will not be the president's fault, because at least he tried," Hsieh said.
"The president would have told me if he were really upset, since I am leaving anyway. But he did not say anything," he said.
Yu said that the president had never interviewed him regarding any "personnel affairs."
"Ever since I quit my position as the Presidential Office secretary-general to campaign for the DPP chairmanship, I have not met with the president for at least a month," Yu said.
"I am not one of the four [DPP] heavyweights. I know nothing," Yu said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard