Premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday announced the final members of his Cabinet, surprising many with his choice of National Taiwan University law professor Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) to be minister of the interior.
At a news conference at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei, Lin introduced his final five picks — Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) for minister of transportation and communications, Lee Shying-jow (李翔宙) to head the Veterans Affairs Council, Lee Chung-wei (李仲威) to head the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) to be the Atomic Energy Council minister and Yeh.
Yeh, who is in the US on an academic trip, was the only one not to attend the news conference.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Yeh’s appointment came as a surprise, as media outlets had touted several other candidates — including Taipei City Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮), Yilan County Deputy Commissioner Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成), Tainan Deputy Mayor Tseng Shu-cheng (曾旭正) and former Tainan mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) — but not Yeh.
“When thinking about who should serve as minister of the interior, we thought about Yeh at the beginning, but he declined,” Lin Chuan said. “We went on and looked for other candidates, but still came back to Yeh.”
He said Yeh was a suitable choice because he is not only a legal expert who specializes in constitutional issues and the environment, he has also served on a number of government positions and is familiar with administrative reform, sunshine bills, environmental issues and territorial planning.
“I believe that he is more than capable of doing the job well,” Lin Chuan said.
However, he said that he had a hard time convincing Yeh to accept the appointment, he finally succeeded to do so two days ago.
Hochen too was unwilling to accept the position at first.
"I tried to convince him many times but failed, until someone eventually successfully did it," Lin said. "I really admired the person who did it, because I couldn't do it even [Hochen and I] have been friends for a long time."
"But I can't tell you who the person is," Lin added.
Lee Chung-wei’s appointment was also seen as a surprise, as the retired navy deputy commander would be the first CGA director-general to have a career military background. The post has usually been held by someone with a police background.
The CGA must defend Taiwan’s territorial waters, so Lee Chung-wei’s experience would help the agency, Lin Chuan said.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
RSS