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.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS