Minister Without Portfolio Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌), who is in charge of technology and health welfare-related affairs at the Cabinet, is to take the role left vacant by former minister of health and welfare Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), the Executive Yuan said yesterday in a press release.
“The public has been yearning for an overhauled food safety system following the recent spate of food scares, which makes the ministry’s need for a leader specialized in food safety management even more urgent,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said in the press release.
Sun said Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) believed that desperate times call for desperate measures and decided to rise above the common conception that the ministerial position must be taken on by medical or public health experts.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“Premier Jiang is confident that the newly appointed minister will do his utmost to address the food safety problems in an effort to make the public feel at ease when choosing their foods,” Sun said.
After nearly four years at the helm of the ministry, Chiu resigned on Oct. 3 to take political responsibility for the nation’s seemingly endless series of food scares.
With a doctorate in food science from the University of Illinois in the US, Chiang has served as the dean of National Taiwan University’s Institute of Food Science and Technology as well as the College Bioresources and Agriculture department head.
Since he became a minister without portfolio in March this year, the former academic has addressed health and welfare-related affairs, including government policies on disease control, health and medicine and food safety, the press release said.
“In addition, Chiang has participated in every inter-ministerial meeting on the recent series of cooking oil scandals presided over by Jiang. He is familiar with the government’s current food safety policies and is perfectly aware of the improvements that need to be made,” the press release said.
“He is the most ideal candidate to lead the entire ministry in safeguarding people’s health,” it added.
Jiang praised Chiang’s expertise in food safety and biotechnology during a question-and-answer session at the legislature, saying that Chiang also possessed adequate knowledge of the prevention of Ebola virus infection and the priority draft bills the ministry has been pursuing.
At a press conference held to announce his new designation, Chiang said it took him nearly a week to decide whether to take the job at such a sensitive time.
“However, if my accepting the job can really help achieve something, then everything else is secondary,” Chiang said, adding that his ultimate goal was to ensure public health and give people peace of mind.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS