Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said yesterday that the Cabinet was not aware of ny reshuffle after a newspaper report said the president was in favor of a small-scale reshuffle.
A report in yesterday’s Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) said Ou Chin-der (歐晉德), the executive director of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC), and Minister Without Portfolio Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) were possible candidates to replace Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川), secretary-general of the Executive Yuan.
Jennifer Wang (王如玄), the chairwoman of the Council of Labor Affairs, and Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) were also to be replaced, it said.
Asked about the report, Su declined to comment, except to say: “The Executive Yuan is not aware of any plans for change.”
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) also refused to comment when approached during an inspection trip to a traffic control center.
Ou dismissed the report that said he would replace Hsueh as a “rumor” and said the most important thing for him was to focus on his job at THSRC, as the high-speed railway is vital to Taiwan.
“It is purely speculation,” Ou said. “I thank people for their love and support, but I just want to do my job well at this stage of my life.”
THSRC spokesperson Ted Chia (賈先德) also denied that Ou would be leaving the company.
“I believe he [Ou] made it very clear before that there are many things that you can do for your country. The high-speed rail is a very important national infrastructure. At present he has no plans to work anywhere else,” Chia said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) called on the government to replace Wang, saying that she “was not an expert at resolving unemployment.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHELLEY SHAN
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
RSS