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Siew may advise Cabinet on economy

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is considering authorizing Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) to use his expertise on finance and economics to assist the Cabinet with economic policies, the Presidential Office announced.

In an attempt to solve recent economic problems and to implement his “6-3-3” economic policy, the president may ask Siew to form a task force to help the Cabinet push forward major economic policies, Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chih (王郁琦) said.

The vice president, however, will not become the decision-maker of economic policies, and the organization headed by Siew will operate under the constitutional mechanism, he said.

The “6-3-3” policy refers to Ma’s campaign pledge to deliver annual GDP growth of 6 percent, an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent and annual per capita income of US$30,000.

Wang told reporters that Ma’s administration had not yet decided on the details.

Chinese-language newspapers reported that Ma and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) would meet this week to discuss what form the potential task force could take, such as an economy commission or an economy advising team.

Wang said Ma would respect the Cabinet’s authority as the nation’s highest administrative body.

At a gathering with the press last week, Siew had said that after returning from his trip to Swaziland last month, he had discussed economic issues with the president and that Ma had asked for assistance in solving current economic problems.

Siew told the press that the president had hoped to focus his efforts on the fields of cross-strait affairs, foreign affairs and national defense and let the Cabinet handle other issues.

As the economic issue has emerged as the biggest concern to the people, however, Ma decided to become more involved in economic affairs, Siew said, adding that he would gladly give his advice to the Cabinet.

Ma had described Siew as “the architect” of his economic platform to revive Taiwan’s economy during the presidential campaign, and promised to allow the vice president to put his economic expertise into practice, rather than simply being the first person in line for succession to the presidency.
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