The appointment of veteran economist Hu Cheng-sheng (胡勝正) as minister without portfolio yesterday gives the minor Cabinet reshuffle a dose of economic clout.
But as director of Academia Sinica's economic institute, Hu faces an uphill battlefield strewn with economic landmines.
For starts, unemployment is at a 15-year high, international demand for Taiwan's export products is sliding and the domestic investment environment continues to deteriorate as the high-tech sector seeks greener pastures in China.
But one government watcher says that even with the addition of Hu -- a strong economic theorist -- he can achieve little on his own.
"He faces a very tough battle because he can't do the whole job by himself. He needs a strong team but the [economic] team is not functioning well," said Norman Yin (殷乃平), an economics professor at National Chengchi University.
"We can't put too much faith on one man's ability to deal with the economic problems the country is facing."
But Hu told the Taipei Times by phone yesterday that he was up to the task.
"I will do my best to help the premier improve the economy," Hu said. "While I am still unclear how I will assist the Cabinet, I believe the premier will probably have me focus on macroeconomics and monetary issues. But I won't know until Wednesday when I meet the premier and receive my instructions."
Hu, who served as an economics professor at Indiana's Purdue University from 1968 to 1996, returned to Taiwan to work for Academia Sinica in 1996. He received his PhD in 1967 in economics from the University of Rochester, New York.
Yesterday's reshuffle by Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Hu said that the trouble in the banking sector and monetary policymaking would top his list of priorities.
"The first issue is to reduce the ratio of non-performing loans, and the second is to improve information transparency in the monetary system," Hu said. "We have to focus on these to improve the credibility of the financial system."
Hu also said mapping out both a short- and long-term economic plan was the key to tackling both the economic slowdown and rising unemployment.
"We can resolve the two problems together by, in the short term, expanding domestic demand to increase employment and, in the long-term, by transforming our economic structure," Hu said.
According to Hu, he will also help coordinate economic-policymaking -- an area pundits say the Cabinet is weak in.
"I will be working closely with [the Ministries of Finance, Economic Affairs and the Council for Economic Planning and Development] to coordinate economic policymaking," Hu said.
But while Yin agreed that coordination was a priority, he said obtaining the cooperation of economic officials would prove to be a formidable task.
"Since economic officials have done little coordination in policymaking in the past 10 months, the public should not expect too much from them now" following Hu's appointment, Yin said.
"Economic and finance officials prefer to "blow their own horns," Yin said.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent