Bowing to pressure from overseas compatriots, the Overseas Compatriots Affairs Commission (OCAC) will remain as an independent agency under the Executive Yuan instead of being merged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) as the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) initially suggested.
The Cabinet yesterday approved an amendment to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) that would downsize the number of the Executive Yuan’s subordinate agencies from 37 to 29 by 2011 if the amendment passes the legislature.
RDEC Minister Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said its proposal to incorporate the OCAC into MOFA was criticized by overseas compatriots.
Asked why the Cabinet compromised instead of using its legislative majority to pass the amendment, Jiang said the government would still work toward the merger.
The government explained the rationale for the merger to overseas compatriots but failed to convince them that the merger would not abrogate the OCAC, he said, adding the government would take “a gradual and orderly approach” to advance the reform.
The Cabinet yesterday also passed a proposal by the RDEC to lift caps on the number of government agencies in an amendment to the Organic Standard Act of Central Government Agencies (中央行政機關組織基準法).
The approved proposal reversed an amendment to the Act drafted in 2006, which suggested the current 37 agencies be reorganized into thirteen ministries, four commissions and five independent organs.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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