Former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) yesterday called on Premier Lin Chuan (林全) to resign, the second such call from the pan-green camp in two weeks.
“Lin can make an excellent adviser, but is not leadership material,” Koo said in a radio interview while talking about President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Cabinet picks.
It was a severe mistake to appoint Lin as premier and it would harm Tsai’s authority if he is not replaced immediately, Koo said.
“Although some do not think Lin is unqualified, it will cause greater damage if his replacement is delayed until it becomes absolutely necessary,” he said.
Koo said his opinion about Lin’s appointment is the same as that of former national policy adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培), who on Aug. 30 said that there would be “no tomorrow for Tsai” if the premier does not step down.
Tsai’s approval rating would continue to fall without a timely Cabinet reshuffle, he said.
The Tsai administration cannot excuse its flagging approval ratings by saying it just took office recently, Koo said.
“What about the four months before it assumed office [in May], and the four years before that?” Koo asked, adding that Tsai’s decision would not have been challenged if she had planned the Cabinet appointment after the presidential election in January.
Tsai does not like “senior politicians to interfere” with her presidency and administration, but this style of governance will negatively affect her administration, as a government that only listens to a small group of people would turn away supporters, he said.
Tsai should not compromise her ideals for re-election prospects, but should do whatever she can to leave a memorable legacy, he said.
Koo, who had earlier suggested that Tsai serve only one term, said that her two predecessors did not carry out necessary reforms in a bid to be re-elected and ended up with bad reputations.
Koo also expressed his disapproval of the rumored appointment of People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) as the representative to this year’s APEC leaders’ summit in November.
The alleged appointment would not benefit Taiwan, he said, adding that Beijing would not welcome the appointment either.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) previous meeting with Soong and former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) was a planned strategy, but such a meeting is not guaranteed at the APEC, Koo said.
“I do not mean to judge Soong, but is there not a better candidate?” he asked.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) would be a “dangerous” candidate to lead the APEC delegation, because her behavior and speech might “embarrass” the nation, Koo said.
It is preferable to select a businessperson, regardless of party affiliation, to lead the delegation, he said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,