As of yesterday afternoon, much of the new Cabinet consisted of familiar faces, with six members set to remain in their posts and others being filled by incumbent deputy ministers or ministers without portfolio, sources said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Thursday led the Cabinet’s mass resignation ahead of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) second-term inauguration on Wednesday next week, which is when the new Cabinet is to take office.
Sources said that Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) are among the members staying for another term.
Hsu and Lin were asked to remain because of their performance over the past 16 months, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Pan would remain because of his work in implementing the new curriculum in September last year, sources said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) and Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) are also expected to remain, they said.
Su has approved the resignation of Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), sources said, adding that Hakka Affairs Council Minister Lee Yung-de (李永得) would fill the post.
Lee, who headed the Hakka Affairs Council from 2005 to 2008 and 2016 to this year, has long cultivated cultural and arts circles, leading Su to ask him to succeed Cheng, sources said.
Yang Chang-chen (楊長鎮) is to assume Lee’s post, they added.
Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) is to take over as minister of Science and Technology from Chen Liang-gee (陳良基), sources said.
Wu, who served as the chairman of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, was a technology policy adviser to Tsai during her 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns.
Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairman Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧) is to replace Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who has been tipped for a national security or intelligence post, sources said.
Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) is to replace National Development Council Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶), they added.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
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