The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft statute on streamlining the Cabinet, cutting the number of agencies under it from 36 to 26.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Although a number of Cabinet members had questioned the need for instituting a ministry to deal with veterans' affairs, Cabinet spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) told a news conference after the meeting that Taiwan's move toward a volunteer military service would still necessitate the creation of a ministry to care for veterans.
Chang said that the draft bill, along with amendments to the Organic Standard Law of Central Government Agencies (
With the new legislative session scheduled to start on Friday, the Cabinet will seek to actively cooperate with the legislature to speed up the restructuring of the executive branch of the government, the premier said.
Under the draft bill, six new ministries would be established under the Executive Yuan to add to the eight ministries mandated by the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan.
The 14 ministries would cover interior and homeland security, foreign and overseas affairs, defense, finance, education and sports, justice, economic affairs, transportation and construction, labor and human resources, agriculture, public health and social welfare, environmental resources, tourism and culture, and veterans' affairs.
The seven commissions would cover a new technology commission, a new maritime council, a new commission on gender equality, a new national development commission, the Hakka Council, the Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Mainland Affairs Council.
The five independent institutions are the Central Bank of China, the Central Election Commission, the Fair Trade Commission, the Financial Supervisory Commission and the National Communication Commission.
The restructured Executive Yuan will also add two deputy secretary generals, one of which will help the secretary general with administrative affairs and the other to act as the body's spokesman.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
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