Appointed government officials should concentrate on their own work rather than stump for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) election candidates, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) said yesterday.
Chen said the "stumping mechanism" will only be activated after next month.
The next legislative elections will adopt a new "single-member constituency, two votes" electoral system and the legislature will also be streamlined by halving the number of legislators to 113.
Chen said Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has instructed him to study a stumping mechanism for appointed government officials, adding that he will only work on the mechanism in the latter half of next month.
He said the present emphasis for officials will be to push for better administrative performance, as well as to work in tune with the screening of bills in the legislature, adding that good Cabinet performance will be the best campaign tactic for the DPP.
Responding to reports by the United Daily News that the stumping mechanism will be activated after Oct. 10, he said it would be impossible to achieve this so soon.
Chen noted that the legislature began its new session early this month and that the Executive Yuan has to give administrative reports to the Legislative Yuan, while Cabinet officials also have to go to the legislature to answer questions from lawmakers.
In the past, the legislature has gone into recess one month ahead of the elections to allow lawmakers to go back to their constituencies to prepare.
Chen also denied reports that the Executive Yuan has earmarked officials perceived to be good orators -- Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) and Council of Agriculture Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), to be the main stumping campaigners for DPP candidates.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
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