Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) said yesterday that were no plans to reshuffle the Cabinet and that the Cabinet’s spokeswoman was doing a good job.
His remarks came after former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) was quoted by the Chinese-language United Daily News as saying that the problem with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration was that “there are a lot of not so capable but nice people” in the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan.
Shen, whom Ma nominated as vice president of the Control Yuan but failed to win legislative approval, said the Cabinet should be reshuffled within three months.
“One month is enough to see if a Cabinet member or a minister is capable of doing a good job,” Shen said.
Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) should go because she doesn’t understand many of the nation’s policies, Shen said.
But Chiu said Shih, a former career diplomat, was qualified.
“Shih understands the nation’s policies quite well and her remarks are precise,” Chiu said.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) is “100 percent positive about Shih’s performance,” Chiu said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) also defended Shih, saying that she should not bear the blame for the Cabinet’s lackluster performance because Liu has not been clear about his own policies, and is fickle.
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
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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