Premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday introduced eight future Cabinet members, including the vice premier, the Cabinet spokesman, four ministers without portfolio and the future minister of health and welfare, to the media.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday afternoon, Lin introduced the first eight members of his future Cabinet, including future vice premier Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀), future minister of health and welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延), ministers without portfolio Lin Mei-chu (林美珠), Chang Ching-sen (張景森), Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) and Hsu Chang-yao (許璋瑤), and future Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) — who did not appear at the press conference as he is currently in the US as a visiting professor.
Lin Chuan said that all of the confirmed Cabinet members have served in government positions at different levels, and that he had worked well with all of them previously.
Photo: CNA
“I worked closely with Lin Hsi-yao during the presidential election, and we had good discussions on various issues,” Lin Chuan said. “I first met him when he was Taipei County’s [now New Taipei City] deputy commissioner, and I was the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics minister. I had a very good impression of him, since he could appear soft when trying to convince people, but remains firm over his views.”
Having served not only as deputy county commissioner, but also several positions in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as well as in the Cabinet during the previous DPP administration, Lin Chuan said that Lin Hsi-yao is good at negotiating, and could be very helpful in facilitating communications in the Cabinet and with the legislature.
As for Chang, Lin Chuan said that, as a former head of the Council for Economic Planning and Development — now renamed the National Development Council — he would play a key role in planning for national development, transportation, energy and social housing.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Asked whether his appointment of Lin Mei-chu as a minister without portfolio would entail a conflict of interest, since Lin Mei-chu is Tsai’s cousin, Lin Chuan said that Lin Mei-chu would be serving in the Executive Yuan, not the Presidential Office.
“Professionalism, ability and experience are the only conditions I would consider,” the premier-designate said.
Lin Chuan also said that the decisions on future Cabinet members are not made by any one person.
“We have a team — I am not going to name everyone on the team, but Tsai and I are both on it — to make proposals and discuss possible candidates,” Lin Chuan said.
“Tsai and I often have different ideas, but I have the final say on it,” the premier-designate added.
Meanwhile, Lin Tzou-yien said that he had not attended a WHA meeting before, but that he would ask Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) for advice, and that because he considers himself familiar with the work, he expects the trip to go smoothly.
In response to whether Taiwan would have to attend the meeting under the “one China” principle, Lin Tzou-yien said he has not received the invitation yet, and because he would ask for Chiang’s advice in advance, he does not want to make any remarks on the issue yet.
Additional Reporting by Lee I-chia
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS