Premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) in a radio interview yesterday talked about the presidential transition, a possible tax hike and how the future government would respond to the violent dispersion of protesters from the Executive Yuan during the Sunflower movement in 2014.
Radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) began the interview by asking whether the National Security Bureau has briefed president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on counterterrorism measures since the Brussels attacks on Tuesday.
Lin said they did not expect the bureau to report to them on the matter, but added that, as bureau Director-General Yang Kuo-chiang (楊國強) said last week in the legislature, it has been reporting regularly to Tsai since she was elected.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Asked whether he has met with Premier Simon Chang (張善政) to discuss the transition, Lin said they have spoken on the telephone and came to an agreement that they would meet after a meeting between Tsai and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“I think our meeting would simply be a symbolic one,” Lin said, adding that he would not want current government officials to “come to us to present their policy performance, as what we want is the current government to respond to the needs of the new government, rather than telling us what they have done and plan to do.”
“A policy could be a six or seven-year plan. The incumbent government’s attitude is that they would continue what they have planned and leave it for us to decide whether to continue the projects,” Lin said, adding that it would cause problems for the future government.
Lin said the selection of new Cabinet members would be completed a month before the new government is inaugurated on May 20.
Asked about Tsai’s remarks on Monday that a long-term care services program would be funded mainly by income from gift and inheritance taxes, which would be raised slightly, Lin said an intra-party discussion over the issue called for a designated source for the fund, “without which, the program could not be successfully carried out.”
“If someone is against designating gift, inheritance and property taxes as a source of funds for long-term care services, they would have to tell me what they suggest as an alternative,” Lin said.
With yesterday being the second anniversary of the violent dispersion of the Sunflower movement, Lin was questioned about his stance on the issue.
“It was more of a political affair than a judicial one,” he said. “Dropping the charges [against the protesters] would be one of the options, but considerations for not hurting [the dignity of] public power should also be included.”
“We have to let people know that we respect public authority, but at the same time, we will try to avoid causing social polarization,” Lin added.
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