Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) yesterday confirmed rumors that he had tried to resign his post before the presidential inauguration ceremony a week ago, but said now that he had been inducted into the job he was determined to continue.
"Since I have been sworn in, I will not express any intention to resign irresponsibly or on a whim," Tang said.
PFP lawmaker Chen Chao-jung (
Tang said yesterday that he had offered his resignation but it was before the inauguration ceremony.
"I was worried my poor health would have negatively affected the operation of the Cabinet at that time," Tang said. "But President Chen requested that I rest more and he said my physical condition would recover."
He added that the president declined to approve his request, saying: "After you are better, everything will return to normal."
Speaking with reporters yesterday before going to his office, Tang said he would devote all his energy to performing well in his post.
"I have no idea about where or who revealed those rumors which said I wanted to quit after the inauguration ceremony," Tang told reporters.
However, opposition lawmakers urged Tang to tell the public the truth about his health, saying his physical condition should be publicized regularly in the future to prevent any incidents which might hold up the workings of the government.
"Taiwan should establish the measures of publicizing high ranking officials' physical condition, just like other advanced countries do," said Chiu Chuang-liang (
KMT lawmaker, Ho Chi-hui (
"The new government should not cheat the general public. Tang did offer his resignation to the president and now other officials, especially Vice Premier Yu Shyi-kun, deny that fact," he said.
The new premier underwent surgery April 15 to remove a benign tumor from his chest. The incision later became infected, forcing him to return to hospital on May 3.
Opposition lawmakers stressed that the question they were concerned with was not only how quickly Tang would recover from the surgery, but how quickly he would be able to shoulder his full workload.
Earlier this week Tang's doctor suggested that the premier's condition would only permit him to stay in his office for half a day, every other day, until late June.
Responding to lawmakers' questions of his ability to appear before the legislature for a policy report followed by a question and answer session, Tang showed some hesitation towards taking part in the interpellation session scheduled for June 2.
"It is hard in my physical condition to accept the lawmakers' interpellation after making the policy report on June 2. The doctors said that three months is needed to recover completely from the the chest surgery I underwent," Tang said.
The PFP legislative caucus requested that Tang's doctors deliver a report to the Legislative Yuan after Tang's medical checkup at Veterans General Hospital next Tuesday to help clear up concerns over the premier's health.
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
Israel yesterday said it has begun preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in line with US President Donald Trump’s plan for the territory, while Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes to try and head off the plan. The Trump administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. US officials have provided few details about how or when the plan would be carried out. Trump yesterday said that Israel would turn Gaza over to the US after the
RSS