The Executive Yuan yesterday appeared to fumble for an explanation after Cabinet officials gave different responses on the number of industries and projects chosen for the government’s flagship plan for a global investment-solicitation initiative.
Minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Christina Liu (劉憶如) presented a proposal for 12 industries and projects to be targeted in the government’s initiative to seek global investment at a meeting chaired by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) on Wednesday.
After the meeting, Government Information Office (GIO) Vice Minister George Hsu (許秋煌) said the meeting did not come to a conclusion on the proposal, adding that Wu hoped the CEPD would solicit more views from civic groups in two meetings scheduled to take place next month.
However, at a separate setting on Wednesday night, Liu said Wu approved her proposal after a minor revision.
The different versions offered by the GIO and the CEPD led to different media reports, with some saying that 12 industries and projects were selected, while others reported that it was 10.
Asked about the discrepancy after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting yesterday, Liu said on Wednesday evening she had prepared a press release to correct Hsu’s comments after she noticed the Central News Agency and the United Daily Evening News had carried reports on them. The GIO decided not to release the press release, she said, adding that the office told her that the process to issue a statement to clarify previous remarks could be problematic because it would require the premier’s approval.
At a separate setting yesterday, Wu said the Wednesday meeting was for Cabinet officials to exchange opinions and not a statutory mechanism where the Cabinet hammered out policy.
Last night, the Executive Yuan issued a statement saying that the CEPD would continue to promote the initiative’s 10 programs. The programs are the proposed Taoyuan international aviation city, urban renewal, new high-tech industrial clustering in central Taiwan, cultural innovation and digital content, medical care, biotech and sophisticated agriculture, the internationalization of cuisines, cloud computing and WiMAX, smart electric cars and environmentally friendly energy and buildings.
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