Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) yesterday kept mum about any possible successor to Lin Yi-shih (林益世), who resigned as secretary-general of the Executive Yuan late on Thursday night amid allegations of corruption.
Former department of health minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川), a close confidant of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), was rumored to be a possible candidate, but offered no comment on the speculation.
Yeh said that he “was not aware of that [speculation]” in a telephone interview.
Earlier yesterday, Chen said he has not yet started to consider possible successors to Lin, but added that he has two criteria: that the chief staff shall be good at dealing with difficulties and atcommunicating with people.
Lin, 44, was a four-term lawmaker who lost his re-election bid in January this year.
The premier said Lin was appointed secretary-general because both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and him considered Lin met the qualifications.
Chen dismissed media speculation that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General Lin Join-sane (林中森), who served as secretary-general of the Executive Yuan when Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) was premier, or Liao Liou-yi (廖了以), president of Association of East Asian Relations, who served as secretary-general of the KMT and the Presidential Office, were possible replacements.
Lin resigned two days after he was accused by Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥) — the owner of Kaohsiung-based Ti Yung Co — of taking a bribe of NT$63 million (US$2.1 million) from the company in 2010 and of demanding NT$83 million in February and March when his company was to renew procurement contracts with two of China Steel Corp’s subsidiaries.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
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