Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and members of his Cabinet were sworn in to office yesterday at a ceremony hosted by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Su later went to the Executive Yuan complex and received the seal of office from his predecessor, William Lai (賴清德), who led his Cabinet in resigning en masse on Friday last week to take responsibility for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) losses in the local elections in November last year.
After that, Su, as premier, presided over the changeover ceremony for the new Cabinet.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
At the ceremony, Su said he understood the heavy responsibility associated with the position of premier and thanked Lai for his contributions to the nation, his policies and what he had done for Taiwanese.
Su said he asked the new Cabinet to work hard to build on that foundation, while he would roll up his sleeves and get to work.
Lai said that there are three issues Taiwan must tackle — constitutional reform, creating a culture for political parties to prioritize the national interest and unity to counter China.
In a Jan. 2 speech on Beijing’s policy regarding Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) affirmed the so-called “1992 consensus” as “the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China and they should work to seek the unification of the nation” and he proposed a “one country, two systems” formula as the best approach to achieving that goal, Lai said.
Given his rhetoric, the nation’s political parties should not fantasize about unification, while Taiwanese should face China together, he said.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Lawmakers across party lines said they more or less agreed with the ideas Lai raised.
DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said he agreed with Lai’s call for constitutional reform and urged Tsai to begin a process to amend the Constitution and establish the government as either a presidential or parliamentary system, which would eliminate confusion brought about by having two heads of government.
People First Party caucus convener Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that potential amendments to the Constitution should be discussed at a national conference.
Lee said that issues concerning national interests, such as imports of US beef and pork or food products from Japanese regions after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, should be evaluated professionally and scientifically and not be turned into political problems.
Responding to Lai’s call for solidarity, Lee said Taiwan must reach a consensus before it engages in dialogue with China.
KMT caucus secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said that constitutional amendments are not feasible, as there is a high threshold for them to pass.
Tseng said the DPP might need to adjust its mentality, adding that it cannot say it wants to defeat the KMT internally while telling people that it wants to create a political culture that prioritizes the national interest.
New Power Party caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said that if the DPP agrees with Lai’s suggestions, then Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) should convene a constitutional amendment committee immediately.
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