Opposition lawmakers urged Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday to redeem himself by applying himself fully to his job after he agreed to remain at his post on the urging of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
KMT whip at the Legislative Yuan Lee Chuan-chiao (
Lee Chuan-chiao lauded the finance minister, whose policy triggered the demonstration of fishermen and farmers on Saturday, as a finance expert and credited Fan for calming down the protesters, which lead to Saturday's demonstration ending peacefully.
Although the premier was retained, Lee Chuan-chiao said, he is now no more than a caretaker or a lame duck.
Even as a caretaker, Yu should not sit idly on his hands, as long as he is still the head of the Cabinet, Lee said, adding he could make up for his mistakes in the botched financial reform plan by driving down the unemployment rate and improving social order; otherwise, the KMT will ask him to leave.
Another KMT lawmaker, Mu Ming-chu (穆閩珠), said the repeated shakeups of the Cabinet formed by the DPP will inevitably damage the government's credibility and efficiency.
Citing the government's statistics, Mu said 28 Cabinet agencies have a leadership change twice, and 10 have seen their chiefs replaced three times in the last two years after the DPP took power.
Meanwhile, a KMT official unveiled his party's eight-point proposal to sort out the problems surrounding the grassroots banks.
Tzeng Yung-chuan (曾永權), executive director of the KMT Central Policy Coordinating Commission, said his party is calling for the reinstatement of the 36 grassroots banks taken over by commercial banks last year after they had accumulated more bad loans than their assets.
The KMT's proposal also calls for full acceptance by the government of the demands made by the farmers and fishermen.
The KMT's decision not to call for Yu's removal is in sync with public opinion as shown on polls commissioned by the party after Saturday's demonstration.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from