Executive Yuan Spokesman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) declined to confirm yesterday whether Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Minister Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) has declined Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) offer to serve as chairman of CPC Corp, Taiwan, apparently unhappy with the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
“The premier will make the necessary arrangements for the Cabinet reshuffle and announce the changes when opportune,” Chiang said.
Chiang was responding to a story published by the Chinese-language Commercial Times yesterday that quoted an anonymous source as saying Tsai was sure to leave the government and had declined an offer to take over CPC Corp or serve in any other post.
The report quoted Wu as saying that Tsai had told him he wanted to retire.
Another story by the Chinese-language China Times cited an unidentified source as saying Tsai was upset at the recent Cabinet reshuffle and felt disrespected.
It had been rumored that Tsai was to be appointed vice premier after Eric Chu (朱立倫) indicated earlier this month that he would resign from that post to run for mayor of Sinbei City (the name of Taipei County after it is upgraded to a special municipality later this year) as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate.
Although Tsai dismissed the rumor, several lawmakers congratulated him during a question-and-answer session at the legislature’s Finance Committee on May 5.
On Thursday, Wu announced his new deputy premier — Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲).
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co’s chief economic adviser Christina Liu (劉憶如) also told reporters last Friday that she had been appointed to succeed Tsai at the council, Wu did not confirm or deny the appointment.
Wu is scheduled to announce the new Cabinet officials on Wednesday, ahead of the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration on Thursday.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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