The new Cabinet, led by Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), and new Presidential Office appointments were sworn into office yesterday morning.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) presided over the swearing-in ceremony at the Presidential Office, the office said in a statement.
It marked the conclusion of a reshuffle of the Cabinet and the Presidential Office following the resignation of former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and his Cabinet on Monday.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Also attending the ceremony were Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄), as well as the heads of the Judicial Yuan, Control Yuan and Examination Yuan, the statement said.
During a separate ceremony yesterday at the Executive Yuan marking the handover of power from the outgoing Cabinet to the newly appointed one, Chen said he and his Cabinet would spare no effort in their tenure until the end of Tsai’s second term in May next year.
Chen, who served as vice president during Tsai’s first term from 2016 to 2020, is expected to lead his Cabinet to resign en masse even if the Democratic Progressive Party wins the presidential election next year and stays in power.
Photo: CNA
One of his Cabinet’s priorities is to further loosen COVID-19 disease prevention protocols with the aim of “bringing people’s lives back to normal,” Chen said.
At the same time, the Cabinet will be dedicated to helping companies and individuals that have been economically affected by the pandemic over the past three years, he said.
In particular, the government is planning to help boost small and medium-sized enterprises, and to improve the infrastructure of agricultural and fishing areas, he said.
The Cabinet will seek to “lead Taiwan through various challenges” against the backdrop of a volatile global economy and inflation while turning Taiwan into a more resilient and competitive nation for the decades to come, he said.
The Cabinet will roll out social welfare measures to “ease the financial burden of the general public” and focus on fighting major crimes, such as illegal drugs, organized crime and fraud, he said.
Meanwhile, Su, 75, said that although he was leaving public office, he would be ready to serve “whenever the country needs [me].”
Su, the longest-serving premier since direct presidential elections began in Taiwan in 1996, gave his blessings to Chen and his Cabinet, many of whom were holdovers from the previous Cabinet.
Lai said he had the utmost confidence that Chen would fulfill all the tasks entrusted by Tsai in the next 16 months.
The coming year is key as Taiwan seeks to fully recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lai said, adding that he expected Chen’s Cabinet to do their best to promote post-pandemic economic recovery and other government policies.
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