President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday tapped former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to be the next premier, to take office after the inauguration on May 20.
Lai made the announcement at a news conference in Taipei, at which he unveiled the slogan “an active and innovative Cabinet,” or “AI” Cabinet.
Cho, 65, served as the Cabinet secretary-general from September 2005 to January 2006 and again from September 2017 to December 2018, when Lai was premier under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Lai stepped down from the post in late December 2018 to run for DPP chairman, a role left vacant following Tsai’s departure after the party’s defeat in local elections in November 2018.
Cho served as DPP chairman from January 2019 until Tsai began her second term as president, before returning as the head of the party in May 2020.
During his tenure from 2019 to 2020, Cho played a key role in navigating a contentious primary race between Lai and Tsai.
Cho is known as a relatively soft-spoken negotiator, with more than three decades of experience in government as a city councilor, legislator, presidential secretary-general and Cabinet member.
He largely stayed out of politics following Tsai’s return, until he was invited to join Lai’s campaign last year.
More recently, Cho was a member of a “study group” convened by Lai that helped formulate the candidate’s national infrastructure platform, and was a key member of Lai’s presidential campaign, organizing overseas support organizations.
During yesterday’s news conference, Lai said Cho was a perfect choice for premier because he is known for his communication skills and has prioritized national interests ahead of party differences.
“We’ve worked together for the same causes, and we have trusted and supported each other,” Lai said.
Cho said he was honored to take up the post, pledging to do his best.
He said he was given three major tasks by Lai, the first of which is to build an “active and innovative Cabinet” to transform Taiwan into a “smart tech island.”
The second is to establish a communications platform to solicit public opinion on major issues where a social consensus has not yet been formed to resolve difficult problems, he said.
The third is to create a “healthy Taiwan” by promoting equal rights and expanding investment in projects of concern to young people, such as affordable housing, education, employment and childcare, he said.
Cho told reporters that he would announce his other Cabinet members soon, adding that he would reach across party lines.
“I hope this active, innovative ... Cabinet, will as in the past uphold the spirit of a great democratic alliance, using people based on their talents without distinction to party affiliations and proactively training a younger generation,” he said.
Lai also named former minister of culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) as vice premier, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) as secretary-general and former Taichung city councilor Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) as spokesman.
Cheng, who served as Tsai’s culture minister throughout her first term, was a central pillar in shaping Lai’s policy platform during his presidential campaign.
The 54-year-old has not held an official position since she left the culture ministry in 2020, but has remained active in nonprofit organizations with liaison to the Tsai administration.
They include the General Association of Chinese Culture, which is headed by Tsai with Cheng as one of her deputies.
The association, with a mission to expand Taiwan’s cultural outreach, has been responsible for the visuals designed for Double Ten National Day celebrations and has hosted the Presidential Culture Awards for several years.
Kung has headed up the National Development Council since May 2020 while also serving as the Cabinet’s minister without portfolio since 2019. Before that, he was deputy economics minister for nearly one-and-a-half years.
The 60-year-old has been a principal architect of some of Tsai’s major policies, including shaping Taiwan’s 2050 net zero carbon emissions campaign and programs to promote the development of the cybersecurity, precision health, renewable energy and national defense sectors.
Local media have reported that National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄), a lawyer by training, would likely take over as defense minister from Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正), a former army commander.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) would likely succeed Koo as head of the National Security Council, they reported.
National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥), who had previously served as Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the EU, would stay on as head of the intelligence agency, the reports added.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS