Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday expressed their opposition to any Cabinet reshuffle.
“The economy and stock market are depressed because the global financial crisis. Therefore, it is very easy to assume that reshuffling the Cabinet will help solve the problem,” KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said when asked for comment.
“But I believe making a reshuffle at the moment will instead lead to political instability ... it may not necessarily help solve the economic depression or boost the stock market,” Wu said.
KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) echoed Wu’s view, saying the Cabinet had worked very hard to carry out its responsibilities.
Kuo said the Cabinet deserved support and encouragement given its hard work and that it would be “cruel” to call for a reshuffle at the moment.
At a separate setting, KMT caucus Deputy secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) also vowed to support the Cabinet.
The lawmakers threw their support behind Cabinet officials amid speculation that a number of young and middle-aged KMT legislators had teamed up to demand a Cabinet reshuffle.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported on Sunday that 10 KMT lawmakers would threaten to topple the Cabinet should President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) fail to initiate a reshuffle by the end of the year.
The Apple Daily said the legislators considered Cabinet Spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平), Cabinet Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川), Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏), Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), Transportation and Communications Minister Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) and Central Personnel Administration Minister Cheng Ching-hsiu (陳清秀) to be “incompetent.”
The Cabinet on Sunday dismissed the story, saying “someone” was trying to sabotage relations between the Presidential Office, the Cabinet and the party.
KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) yesterday urged the premier to make necessary adjustments to “some incompetent officials.”
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