Minister-without-Portfolio Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) said yesterday he would do his utmost to fulfill his duties once he takes the helm as Council for Cultural Affairs minister.
“Culture and creativity, not the upcoming presidential and legislative elections, will be my main concerns once I take office,” said Tzeng, who returned from Italy early yesterday morning.
Tzeng, a psychologist who served as minister of education from 2000 to 2002, said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that he is no stranger to cultural affairs as he has supervised its operations in the past.
Noting that cultural development should be a politically neutral undertaking, Tzeng said he is determined to fulfill his mission with professionalism when he assumes office.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said on Nov. 19 that Tzeng had been tapped to succeed Emile Sheng (盛治仁) as Council for Cultural Affairs minister. As Tzeng had already departed for Italy the previous night to attend an international meeting of academics, he has not yet taken over his new post.
Sheng resigned on Nov. 18 amid accusations of extravagant spending on a musical that was produced for the country’s centennial celebrations.
The musical, Dreamers (夢想家), was produced and presented on two nights at a cost of more than NT$215 million (US$7.1 million).
Opposition politicians and people working in the arts have criticized the amount as being exorbitant for a production that ran for only two nights. They have implied that there had been irregularities in the bidding process for the production.
Tzeng would not go into details about the controversy surrounding the musical, saying he was not in a position to talk about the issue as he has not yet taken office.
Instead, he promised to look into the case after he assumes office.
“I’ll listen to the opinions of cultural commentators and artists, before coming up with reform initiatives,” Tzeng said.
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
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