Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that an ongoing plan to reshuffle the Cabinet would be settled by the end of this month.
“I had a plan in mind to complete a necessary reshuffle by Jan. 31, together with the consideration [of a possible candidate to replace] Department of Health Minister [Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良)],” Wu said.
Yaung offered to resign on Jan. 4 after the legislature passed a bill to reform the National Health Insurance System. He later agreed to stay on until the end of this month.
‘ILLOGICAL’
Cabinet members in economic-related departments are likely to retain their positions because replacing economic officials just as the economic recovery gains ground seems “illogical,” Wu said.
It is not easy to recruit talent in the private sector to work for the government because they would rather not be questioned by lawmakers in the legislature, disclose their assets to the Control Yuan or be subject to a number of restrictions imposed on Cabinet members, Wu said.
Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱), who has been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma and recently underwent surgery, might also continue in his position, Wu said, adding that he had talked to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) about the matter and found that Kao should be able to stay in the position because he is recovering well.
REPLACING JOHNNY
At a separate setting yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) urged the premier to replace Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), saying that Chiang was the least well-known GIO minister under the KMT administration.
“Back in the old KMT administration era, [the position of] the GIO minister was extremely important and almost the most high-profile [among government officials]. However, who knows Johnny Chiang now?” asked Lo, alleging that Chiang had failed to defend government policy on a number of occasions.
Lo also singled out the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, saying Wu should consider replacing government chiefs at the ministries, or the party’s performance in the next legislative and presidential elections would suffer.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it