In an interview with Clara Chou (周玉蔻) yesterday morning, former Presidential Office adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) was full of praise for premier-designate William Lai (賴清德) and said only people like Lai, who is concerned for Taiwan and recognizes the nation’s sovereignty, would be able to motivate Taiwanese to defend their nation.
Lai has been very successful as both a representative of the people and a mayor, and the nation needs such individuals to shoulder the burden of leading the central government, Wu said.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) “should have stepped down long ago,” as his continued stay in the position did not benefit the nation, Wu said.
Lin was “smugly confident” at a news conference on Tuesday and was entirely unapologetic that he had not lived up to the trust of Taiwanese, Wu said, adding that he was unhappy with Lin’s attitude.
However, Wu said Lin has stepped down and he hopes Taiwan has a better future under Lai.
Lai is not to blame for the failure to appoint new officials at the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council and other agencies, Wu said.
It is up to the president to nominate individuals to such posts, Wu said, adding that he was disappointed that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had not used the opportunity to its full potential.
“If anyone is to blame, it is President Tsai,” Wu said.
Wu also said he fully supports the nomination of Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to head of the Financial Supervisory Commission.
Management is an art and the commission would not necessarily be better under someone who is an expert in financial matters, Wu said, adding that in the same vein, it did not necessarily take a former minister of finance to manage a bank.
When asked by Chou about his views on Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Wu criticized Ko for “betraying Taiwanese” by claiming to be deep-green during the election and yet bowing to Chinese pressure.
“Better the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] wins the Taipei mayoral election than have Ko re-elected,” Wu said.
Wu said while he initially hoped Lai would run for Taipei mayor and “trounce Ko,” he could accept Lai becoming premier.
Meanwhile, Tsai said that reforms would come quicker, be bolder and would be more on track under the new premier, adding that the government has lived up to its promise to “remove the rocks” for entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized companies, as she commended the Taiwan Junior Chamber’s efforts to promote the New Southbound Policy and increase the nation’s visibility on the international stage.
The nation’s economy has grown, the unemployment rate has fallen, while exports continue to grow, Tsai said, adding: “We have built the foundations for Taiwan’s future.”
Tsai told a Democratic Progressive Party Central Standing Committee meeting that the new premier would lead a very efficient and communicative Cabinet, asking members to give the new Cabinet their full support.
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