The Cabinet, led by Premier and vice president-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), will resign en masse on Jan. 31 before the Eighth Legislature takes its oath of office on Feb. 1, Executive Yuan spokesman Philip Yang (楊永明) said yesterday.
“In accordance with regulations and conventions, the Executive Yuan will call a special Cabinet meeting on Jan. 31 to approve its mass resignation,” Yang told a press conference held following the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Yang said he had no information on who would be appointed premier by the president.
At the Cabinet meeting, Wu instructed the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Ministry of the Interior to find ways to prevent a recurrence of the problems in Saturday’s elections, in which more than 13,000 servicemen on duty on Election Day were -unable to cast their ballots, while residents of outlying islands failed to vote because airports on the islands were shrouded in fog.
Meanwhile, Construction and Planning Agency -Director--General Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文) briefed the Cabinet on the progress of two low-cost housing projects in -Fujhou Borough (浮州), Banciao District (板橋), new Taipei City (新北市), and near a planned mass rapid transit (MRT) station in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口).
The Banciao project, which comprises 4,480 residential units, is scheduled to be completed by 2015; the Linkou project, which consists of 3,960 units, is scheduled for completion in 2014.
Out of a total of 8,249 applications received to purchase the houses, 5,673, or 69 percent, were filed by Taipei residents, while 2,262, or 27 percent, came from New Taipei City residents, Yeh said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner