The Cabinet line-up remained virtually unchanged ahead of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration for his second term today.
The Presidential Office yesterday announced its new Cabinet team, which is led by Premier Sean Chen
Chen was designated by Ma to succeed Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) as premier in early February following the Ma-Wu ticket’s election in January.
Despite falling approval ratings for Ma and the Chen Cabinet, alongside rising calls for a Cabinet reshuffle, virtually all former Cabinet members have kept their previous positions in office.
All minister-level members were reappointed, with the exception of minister without portfolio Chang Chin-fu (張進福), who is to return to academia.
Chang’s duties, which cover policy coordination on issues related to energy (including nuclear power), environmental protection, digital convergence, transportation and communications, among others, has been left unfilled for the time being.
The new Ministry of Culture, which was upgraded from the Council of Cultural Affairs, officially begins operations today and is to be led by Lung Ying-tai (龍應台).
Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉), a professor at the Graduate Institute of Mass Communication at National Taiwan Normal University, was appointed as spokesperson of the Executive Yuan, leading the new Office of Information Services.
Shaw Yu-ming (邵玉銘), chairman of the Coordination Council of North American Affairs — counterpart of the American Institute in Taiwan — will be replaced by David Lee (李大維), now the nation’s representative to Canada.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not announced who is to succeed Lee.
Deputy ministers of the Council of Economic Planning and Development San Gee (單驥) and Hu Chung-ying (胡仲英) both left the Cabinet. Meanwhile, Wu Ming-chi (吳明機), director of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of Industrial Technology, has been appointed vice minister of the council.
Chang Yun-cheng (張雲程) and Lin Chin-tien (林金田), who were vice ministers of the Council of Culture, were appointed vice ministers of the Ministry of Culture. Mou Chung-yuan (牟中原), a professor of chemistry at National Taiwan University, and Henry Sun (孫以瀚), a researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, were appointed as deputy ministers of the National Science Council, replacing Chen Cheng-hong (陳正宏) and Chang Ching-fong (張清風).
Chen Wen-te (陳文德), a councilor at the Council of Agriculture, was promoted to deputy minister of the council, replacing Huang Yu-tsai (黃有才). Deputy minister of the Public Construction Commission Wu Kuo-an (吳國安) was replaced by Chen Chwen-jing (陳純敬), a senior consultant from the private sector.
Uya Pawan (洪良全), director of the Department of Economic and Public Construction of the Council of Indigenous Peoples, succeeds Xia Jin-long (夏錦龍) as deputy minister.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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