Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) is to succeed Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who resigned on Thursday to focus on his Taipei mayoral election campaign, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
Hsueh’s vacancy is to be filled by Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration Commission Director Wang Pi-sheng (王必勝), who is also to take over as head of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) told a news conference in Taipei, adding that the changes are to take effect on Monday.
CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) is to become the Cabinet’s chief pandemic adviser, a newly created position, Lo said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) created the office following discussions to establish a task force similar to the US’ presidential pandemic response team, he said.
Chen said that Hsueh is uniquely qualified to be minister, as he is licensed to practice law and medicine, making him a top choice to manage the ministry’s complex operations.
Hsueh is also a seasoned medical administrator, having served in the Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration Commission for six years, with special expertise in the integration of healthcare services, national health insurance reform and long-term care, he said.
Regarding Wang, Chen said that he is the most qualified to head the CECC, as he proved himself to be effective in managing the government’s response to local COVID-19 outbreaks while working on the front lines of the center over the past two years.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
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