Taiwan is set to open a new culture ministry and a revamped Aviation Safety Council on Sunday, while the Government Information Office (GIO) will be shut down permanently in the latest phase of a campaign designed to overhaul government structures.
On Jan. 1, the Executive Yuan began an organizational restructuring process that aims to cut the number of Cabinet-level agencies from 37 to 29, leaving 14 ministries, eight councils, three independent commissions and four other agencies, including the National Palace Museum and the central bank.
The ministry of culture will be created through an upgrade of the Council for Cultural Affairs and the GIO, which was established in 1947 to publicize the nation at home and abroad and to regulate the local media and film industries.
The culture ministry will take over the GIO’s operations in the broadcasting, publishing and film industry sectors, said Sung Yu-hsieh (宋餘俠), deputy minister of the Research Development and Evaluation Commission, which has spearheaded the government overhaul. Other GIO services will be taken over by the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said.
Sung added that the new culture ministry was set to begin operations on a trial basis yesterday to see what improvements were needed.
Since assuming office in May 2008, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has promoted the streamlining of government operations and introduced an amendment to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) in January 2010, which paved the way for the reform process.
Meanwhile, sources confirmed yesterday that Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉), a professor at the Graduate Institute of Mass Communication at National Taiwan Normal University, would be appointed spokesperson of the Executive Yuan on Sunday after the GIO ceases to exist.
Hu was confirmed as the first-term spokesperson of the Executive Yuan, a role that has been played by the head of the GIO since it was established 65 years ago, except when the office was dissolved between 1949 and 1954.
GIO Minister Philip Yang (楊永明), who left the faculty of National Taiwan University in May last year, will be transferred to the National Security Council, for which he was an adviser before joining the university in May 2010. He will serve as deputy secretary-general of the council.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all