A former editor-in-chief of an English-language daily newspaper in Taiwan will join three seasoned diplomats today to be sworn into their new posts either overseas or at the foreign ministry.
Rex Wang (
Wang, former executive director of the Asia Foundation, majored in law at the National Taiwan University before gaining his master's degree in political science from National Chengchi University. He completed his graduate studies in labor studies in Brussels.
Wang has vowed to improve ties between Switzerland and Taiwan once he takes up his new post in Bern.
Wang was unable to comment on his new post when contacted yesterday.
Three seasoned diplomats are also slated to be sworn in for their respective new posts during the ceremony this afternoon.
Victor Chin (
Lo Yu-chung (
Joseph Kuo (
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) took part in the three-day "Strengthening Indonesian Political Parties Conference" in Jakarta yesterday, according to a press release.
Hsiao is scheduled to give a talk on "Political Parties in a Democracy" this morning, while Shaw Yu-ming (
Shaw was the former deputy secretary-general of the KMT.
The international conference saw the gathering of political party leaders and scholars from the region, as well as parliamentarians from the Philippines, Taiwan, Mongolia and Malaysia.
The swearing in for the four positions comes three days after Premier Yu Shyi-kun told an inter-governmental meeting entitled "Task Force on Foreign Affairs" that he planned to increase the proportion of high-ranking officials with expertise in areas other than foreign affairs to lead Taiwan's representative offices abroad.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet's spokesman said that people should not take the premier's comments as referring to only staff with expertise in trade and economics, saying that Yu was talking about people with experience "across the board."
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
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