A Cabinet reshuffle is expected to be announced by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) tomorrow following the planned resignation of Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is set to quit his post to run as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate in November’s Sinbei City election.
Talking to reporters yesterday evening, Wu confirmed that he had recently exchanged opinions on a possible Cabinet reshuffle with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“Yes. We have reached a consensus [on how to reshuffle the Cabinet],” Wu said, but he did not elaborate.
PHOTO: PAN HSING-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES
Chu is scheduled to tender his resignation to Wu this evening after he is to be formally nominated as the KMT’s candidate during the a Central Standing Committee meeting.
Wu said he would sign Chu’s resignation letter early tomorrow morning and announce his successor and other individuals involved in a Cabinet reshuffle at a press conference tomorrow afternoon.
Elections for the heads of five special municipalities will take place on Nov. 27 in Taipei City, Sinbei City (the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a merger of Taichung City and Taichung County), Greater Tainan (a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County) and Greater Kaohsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County).
The Chinese-language China Times said in its editorial yesterday that the government must take the opportunity of Chu’s departure to conduct a thorough review of officials’ performance and shake up the Cabinet.
The editorial said Ma could not afford to “let one opportunity after another slip away,” especially with his popularity recently hitting “rock bottom” after two years in office.
It lauded Wu’s performance, who it described as eloquent, experienced and political.
Meanwhile, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported yesterday that the Cabinet reshuffle was likely to happen before May 20, the second anniversary of Ma’s inauguration. It said the change “would not be minor.”
Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday said Ma would take advantage of the special occasion of his second year in office to “report to the people” about the “many achievements” he and his administration have made in the past years, as well as his policy objectives for the future.
“The worst time has passed, it is time for us to see some results,” he said. “It is like eating sugarcane, the more you bite into its end, the sweeter it gets.”
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody