Accusing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of running the country in an arrogant manner, former Control Yuan president Wang Tso-yung (王作榮) yesterday urged Ma to reshuffle the Cabinet within one month.
“Growing up as the only son of a middle-class family surrounded by doting sisters, it is no wonder that Ma has an arrogant attitude,” Wang said.
He also quoted Ma’s wife, Chow Mei-chin (周美青), as having said that Ma’s downfall was his lack of empathy for others.
Change of heart
A member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) old guard, Wang had been full of praise for Ma last month. But a letter written by Wang that was published on the Chinese-language United Daily News’ opinion page yesterday reflected a possible change of heart.
“Ma needs to stand on the frontline [of the battle]. There is no such thing as a semi-presidential system [in Taiwan],” he said in the letter, referring to Ma’s stance since he assumed office on May 20.
Ma has stated that, based on the Constitution, the premier is the administrative chief and has the highest authority over most domestic matters, while the president’s responsibilities lie chiefly in diplomacy, national defense and cross-strait relations. Ma also cited the Constitution for his silence amid public complaints over rising fuel and commodity prices.
Wang said there were several examples of Ma’s arrogance. For one, he said, Ma named “a certain Taiwanese independence supporter to be the country’s top China policymaker.”
This was an apparent reference to the appointment of former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Lai Hsin-yuan (賴幸媛) as Mainland Affairs Council chairwoman.
Wang accused Ma of turning his back on the KMT to appease the pan-green camp by appointing many people from outside the pan-blue camp in various important posts.
He said Ma should use more of his own people, instead of trying to please the Democratic Progressive Party.
ONE TO RULE THEM ALL
A democratic society means one party is chosen to rule, Wang said, adding that the members of Ma’s administration should be chosen from the ranks of the governing party so that the party could shoulder its political responsibilities as a whole.
“But Ma won’t even pay attention to the legislature, even though it has a pan-blue majority,” he said.
Wang said that Ma was destroying Taiwan’s democracy and breaking up the KMT.
He suggested a major Cabinet reshuffle, preferably within one month, to allow more “suitable” people to be part of the team.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
RSS