The Executive Yuan yesterday dismissed a report about a planned Cabinet reshuffle involving five ministers, including Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) and Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維).
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that the government was considering removing Lee, Minister of Finance Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲), Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) and Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) ahead of the Lunar New Year, adding that Lin would resign following the passage of draft amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) dismissed the report, saying that he has not received any information pertaining to the report and the administration was not planning any Cabinet reshuffle.
Rumors about Lee’s possible dismissal quickly spread after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month botched the nation’s new biometric passports by mistakenly printing 550,000 copies bearing an image of Washington Dulles International Airport instead of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Lee and Sheu, who were able to keep their Cabinet posts when Premier William Lai (賴清德) in September last year replaced former premier Lin Chuan (林全), have been criticized by pro-Taiwanese independence advocates for their pan-blue camp bent and their age.
Pan would be replaced due to his unfamiliarity with the sports sector, resulting in passivity in reforming sports associations, which were criticized for monopolizing government funds and having the final say on athletes’ qualification, the report said.
The Cabinet is considering replacing Pan following alleged membership fraud and vote-rigging attempts by some sports associations ahead of a general association leadership election, it said.
Yeh was reportedly slated for replacement due to his inability to control the police force, and his failures in managing conscription and religious organizations.
Another report by the Chinese-language CM Media said that Lin Mei-chu opposed amending the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” workweek policy shortly after it was implemented in December 2016.
Her opposition was evident during her stint at Lin Chuan’s Cabinet, while she had to comply with Lai’s instruction to revise the policy following Lin Chuan’s resignation, the report said.
Lin Mei-chu reportedly told lawmakers that she would resign following the passage of draft amendments to the policy, which are scheduled for a final legislative review on Friday.
The Presidential Office also denied the reports yesterday.
The Cabinet has helped Taiwan recover from years of economic slowdown and delays in national development, and reports about the reshuffle were baseless misinformation, the office said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all