The Executive Yuan is expected to soon approve the establishment of the Ministry of Digital Development as part of its organizational reform plan, sources said on Saturday.
The role and function of the new ministry has attracted attention, as its main duties would involve digital industry development, Internet supervision and cybersecurity.
The Executive Yuan plans to merge the Department of Cyber Security with the ministry, as well as shift the National Communications Commission’s Internet supervision and digital streaming oversight to the new agency, sources said.
Once President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) approve the plan, following discussion with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, the Cabinet would submit draft amendments, which include modifications to five other agencies, for approval before sending them to the legislature for review, they said.
The Ministry of Science and Technology is also to transform into a commission, with some of its duties to be merged into the new ministry, an Executive Yuan official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
An amendment to the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法), which passed a third reading at the Legislative Yuan in 2010, stipulated that the 37 agencies under the Cabinet be reduced to 29, a process that began in 2012.
Five agencies have still not completed their organizational reform, namely the Council of Agriculture, which is to become the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Administration, which is to become the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the sources said.
In addition, a new National Parks Administration is to be created as part of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to become the Ministry of Transportation and Construction, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs is to become the Ministry of Economic and Energy Affairs, they said.
Su has participated in the integration process, arranging report sessions to listen to the five agencies’ plans, and the Executive Yuan hopes to submit the drafted amendments to complete the restructuring within the current legislative session, the said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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