The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a series of restructuring bills, seeking to transfer the work of the Public Construction Commission to the National Development Council; transform the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research into an administrative institute charged with researching the decommissioning of nuclear power plants; and establish a central agricultural research and extension station.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved the bills at a Cabinet-level meeting at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
After the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) was last amended in 2010, the Public Construction Commission, while still operating, had been removed from the Cabinet’s organizational chart, Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Minister Jay Shih (施能傑) said afterwards.
According to a draft amendment to the Organizational Act of the National Development Council (國家發展委員會組織法), the commission’s responsibilities of overseeing public construction would be transferred to the council, which is also in charge of overseeing public construction, Shih said, adding that the merger would streamline efforts.
An amendment was also passed to transfer government procurement from Ministry of Finance to the council, Shih said.
The Cabinet has approved a bill to transform the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) into a nuclear energy safety council in accordance with the amended Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan, Shih said, adding that the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, which falls under the AEC, would also be reformed.
It would be renamed the Longtan national atomic technology research institute and would be supervised by the planned nuclear energy safety council.
AEC Deputy Minister Chiou Syh-tsong (邱賜聰) said the proposed Longtan institute would conduct research into nuclear energy safety, including the decommissioning of the nation’s nuclear power plants and the disposal of nuclear fuel rods to realize the government’s Nuclear-free Homeland policy by 2025.
Speaking about the proposed central agricultural research and extension station, Shih said that the nation’s seven district agricultural research and extension stations and two urban agricultural research stations have not been reformed in more than 60 years.
The central agricultural research and extension station would streamline research efforts, boost the efficiency of regional stations and cut personnel costs, he said.
DIPLOMATIC MOVES: Beijing is reportedly pressing the state after reports of forming links with Taiwan, while the ministry is also planning to reopen its office in Guam soon A representative office is set to open in Somaliland at the end of this month, at the earliest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday amid reports that Beijing is sending a diplomatic delegation to the east African country. The ministry on July 1 announced that Taiwan and Somaliland would establish representative offices, following a report by the Somaliland Chronicle Web site. It said at the time that the two nations did not plan to establish formal ties. Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi has instructed close confidants to explore the possibility of “mutual recognition between Taiwan and Somaliland,” the Somaliland Chronicle reported
‘IMMORAL, INSINCERE’: Huang Kun-huei said that Ma was ‘distorting history’ in claiming that Lee Teng-hui laid the foundation for the so-called ‘1992 consensus’ Former Presidential Office secretary-general Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) on Saturday rejected former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) claim that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had been a proponent of Beijing’s “one China” principle. Lee, who served as president from 1988 to 2000, died in Taipei on Thursday last week. After visiting the Taipei Guest House on Saturday to pay his respects to Lee, Ma posted on Facebook that “28 years ago on this day” Lee hosted a session of the now-defunct National Unification Council, during which he passed a resolution on the “one China” principle. That resolution became the basis of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s
A Belgian man who tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan last week is likely to have contracted the disease in Taipei in late June, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday reported that the man, who is in his 20s, came to Taiwan for work on May 3 and tested positive on Wednesday last week as he was about to depart. The man in March reported loss of taste and smell, the center said, adding that he worked in Changhua County, but visited Taipei several times,
NEW ERA: Taiwan, which has controlled its virus outbreak, now faces the challenge of safely resuming economic exchanges with other nations, Chang Shan-chwen said People should not focus entirely on having zero new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Taiwan, but neglect overall control over the disease situation, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said yesterday. Chang made the remark at a forum in Taipei discussing the steps Taiwan should take in the post-pandemic era, organized by the Chinese-language magazine Global Views Monthly. Chang, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), and Stanford University’s Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention director C. Jason Wang (王智弘) each made a presentation, followed by a panel discussion with Chang, Wang and Buddhist Tzu
RSS