After days of speculation, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) is now confirmed to be the next vice premier, a senior government official told the Taipei Times on condition of anonymity yesterday.
The source told the Taipei Times that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would announce the appointment of Vice Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) to the premiership by Wednesday and that Chen would announce the list of his Cabinet members the day after Ma’s official appointment.
There has been speculation recently that Chen and Jiang would take up the premiership and vice premiership, but neither has yet confirmed that they would.
However, Chen and Jiang said that Ma has invited them to the Presidential Office for discussions.
“It’s the president’s authority to appoint the premier, and it’s the premier’s authority to name the vice premier, so it’s really not the time for them to say anything, since the president has not announced the appointment,” the unnamed official said.
Before becoming the head of the Executive Yuan’s Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission in 2008, and then the Minister of the Interior in 2009, Jiang was a professor at National Taiwan University’s department of political science.
In addition, media have speculated that Public Constructions Commission (PCC) Minister Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) has been tapped to replace Jiang as interior minister and that former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) would be appointed minister without portfolio.
Neither confirmed nor denied the rumors yesterday.
“I’m not denying it, but it’s just inappropriate for me to say anything at the moment because I haven’t received the final notice from my superior,” Lee told reporters when asked if he were going to be the next minister of the interior.
With a background as a civil engineer, Lee entered politics as the head of the Taiwan Provincial Government’s Hydraulic Engineering Office, then became deputy commissioner of Taipei County before becoming the PCC minister.
Yang gave a similar response.
“The [appointment] has not been confirmed yet, since I haven’t heard about the final decision. I’ll talk more if it’s been confirmed,” Yang said by telephone.
Yang, also a civil engineer, started his political career as a technician in the Kaohsiung County Government, and was eventually elected as county commissioner as a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member.
However, he quit the party in 2010 after failing to win the DPP’s nomination to contest the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral election and switched his support to the pan-blue camp, helping Ma in his re-election bid.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
RSS