Premier-designate Yu Shyi-kun spent his last weekend before taking office dining with Cabinet members yesterday and discussing the details of a joint pledge in which team spirit, efficiency and frugality will be emphasized.
In addition, a crash course for incoming Cabinet members has been scheduled for Thursday. Old and new members have been invited to participate in the program, in which government officials will familiarize themselves with their jobs and learn how to deal with lawmakers and the media.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yu ate lunch and dinner yesterday with two groups of newly appointed Cabinet members at the Armed Forces Officer's Club.
Chuang Suo-hang (
"It's a warm-up for the big day," Chuang said.
The incoming Cabinet members also exchanged views on the joint pledge, an idea brought up by Yu, Chuang said.
"The purpose of the joint pledge is to commit oneself to do the utmost to continue political reforms, increase administrative efficiency and practice frugality," Chuang quoted Yu as saying.
Chuang also said that the pledge was designed to show the public that the new Cabinet is determined to accomplish the goals and work as a team for the best interests of the nation.
"The premier emphasized that each and every `combative Cabinet' member should work as a team and do their best to accomplish the missions," Chuang said.
In explaining the definition of a "combative Cabinet," Chuang quoted Yu as saying that the term means the new Cabinet will face challenges courageously and take the initiative to identify problems and solve them without hesitation.
Yu appointed the 39 members of the "combative Cabinet" between Jan. 21 and Jan. 24. Eight of them are women and 16 are holdovers from the previous Cabinet. The average age of the new Cabinet members is 53 years old.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats