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
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
RSS