The Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday denied press reports that several Cabinet members will soon be reassigned or will resign.
“The reports are mostly speculative, not factual,” the GIO said in a press statement.
A report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) said President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration would undergo a larger-than-expected reshuffle after the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to revive its faltering public approval rating and win back public trust ahead of the year-end mayoral elections for five municipalities.
FRESH FACES
The report said Ma’s national security team would recruit a number of fresh faces after Hu Wei-jen (胡為真) replaces Su Chi (蘇起) as National Security Council secretary-general in a formal changeover ceremony tomorrow.
Moreover, the report said Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) might also be replaced.
Other media reports also said that the finance, economics and transport ministers might be reassigned.
However, the GIO statement rebutted the reports as “untrue” saying Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) recognized the performance and hard work of all the officials mentioned in the media reports and had asked them to work even harder in the future.
SPECULATION
Stressing that the Executive Yuan would inform the public in detail of any plans for a reshuffle, the GIO urged the media to stop the unfounded speculation.
Commenting on the reports, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that the two most important things for the government were proposing the right policies and effective governance.
If both fail to occur, then the frequent changing of government officials was pointless, she said.
Tsai said Ma himself is the most important government official that should have his position reviewed.
RESHUFFLES
Ma has to think whether his governance is effective and whether his policies satisfy public opinion, she said. If Ma refuses to review and improve his governance, frequent Cabinet reshuffles will only continue to waste the nation’s talent.
Tsai also criticized the government for hiring temporary workers on monthly salaries of NT$38,000 to help promote the government’s proposed signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
She said people want to know the reasons for signing the economic pact, not to listen to more propaganda.
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