President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) second term would start with a minor Cabinet reshuffle, with National Development Council Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶), Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) leaving, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.
Tsai and vice president-elect William Lai (賴清德) are to be inaugurated on Wednesday next week.
The three ministers have accomplished the missions they were assigned, and the reshuffle would not interrupt efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or the government’s operations, the source said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), who is at the helm of the government’s economic stimulus policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been tapped to take over the National Development Council, they said.
Chen Liang-gee plans to return to teaching at National Taiwan University, where he used to be a chair professor, they said.
Cheng yesterday said on Facebook that she had decided to leave the Cabinet before the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, and had tendered her resignation to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Jan. 16 because she wanted to spend more time with her son before he starts elementary school.
However, she decided to delay her departure after the COVID-19 outbreak began to worsen, because she was worried about the effect the outbreak might have on the nation’s arts and cultural sector, Cheng wrote.
Cheng took up the culture portfolio as part of former premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) Cabinet, and she said she had been reluctant to stay on when Su asked her to join his Cabinet in January last year.
However, she is glad she did and that she had the opportunity to push for many pieces of legislation that have helped promote the nation’s culture and the establishment of the National Human Rights Museum and the Taiwan Creative Content Agency, she wrote.
She said she was also proud of helping introducing the concept of “cultural governance” to the nation’s political culture.
Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) and Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) are staying on, despite recent controversies, the source said.
Hsu sparked an uproar in March when he reported National Police Agency Director-General Chen Jia-chin (陳家欽) to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office over alleged graft involving the agency’s staffing.
Su was not pleased by Hsu’s handling of the matter, but decided to keep Hsu in his because of his abilities, the source said.
Yen has come under criticism over the handling of an outbreak of COVID-19 on a ship that took part in the navy’s “Friendship Flotilla” mission to Palau.
Chen Liang-gee wrote on Facebook that he was grateful to have been given the opportunity to serve the nation for four years.
Technology is the foundation of a nation and the way to its prosperity, and he would continue dedicating himself to creating a quality and competitive research environment and incubator in the nation, he said.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of upcoming AI and technology events, saying he plans to meet with clients and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) during his visit. After landing at Taipei Songshan Airport, Huang posed for photos with fans and handed out Yakult drinks to reporters and supporters waiting at the scene, saying he has “a lot to do” during the trip. Asked about reports that Nvidia’s planned headquarters site in Taipei’s Beitou Shilin Technology Park could break ground on May 27, Huang said that if the company holds an event, he would
FUKUOKA SITUATION: Japanese media reported that the pathogen is expected to be identified by the summer, while the CDC downplayed the idea that it was hMPV A “mysterious cold-like illness” reported in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture does not seem to be a new disease, but Japanese authorities have been asked about the situation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The Fukuoka Prefectural Medical Association on Wednesday told a news conference that a “mystery cold” that has become a hot topic on social media is “highly likely to be caused by some kind of viral infection,” Japan’s KBC News reported. “Many people are experiencing symptoms starting with a sore throat, followed by a runny nose, phlegm and a severe cough,” KBC News reported, citing association officials. Health authorities are
Carrefour Taiwan is to begin using a new name from the start of July, but it cannot divulge the name until then, the chairman of the supermarket chain's parent company said today. President Chain Store Co chairman Lo Chih-hsien (羅智先) was asked by reporters after a shareholders' meeting to confirm whether the company has settled on a new name for the supermarket brand. In March, the government-registered name of two Carrefour Taiwan branches was quietly changed to "Le Chia Kang" (樂家康) in Chinese, raising speculation that has been selected as the name. Lo said that because of local regulations and contractual obligations, the
RSS