Presidential Office Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is to be the next minister of foreign affairs, while current foreign minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) has been tapped to lead the National Security Council (NSC), President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced on Tuesday.
The president made the comment while receiving a delegation from the New Zealand parliament at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Asked why Tsai made the announcement rather than president-elect William Lai (賴清德) or premier-designate Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), a Presidential Office representative said that any personnel announcements may be made by the electoral team.
Photo: CNA
Lin and Wu were also present to receive the New Zealand delegation of six, led by Social Services and Community Select Committee chairperson Joseph Mooney and All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan cochair Ingrid Leary.
Tsai welcomed the group from all four of New Zealand’s main parties, saying it is their first time visiting Taiwan.
The role changes were reported by the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) last week.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Lin also served as minister of transportation and communications from 2019 to 2021, while Wu has led the foreign ministry since 2018.
Both are to take office after Lai’s inauguration on May 20.
Photo: CNA
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience