Women's groups yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to stay true to its promise of appointing women to one-quarter of high-ranking posts in the Cabinet.
"When President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) entered office in 2000, he made the undertaking that one-quarter of high-ranking Cabinet officials would be women, and he delivered on his promise. But with the new Cabinet, it seems that only seven women have been appointed, and those who are not being retained are being succeeded by men," Awakening Foundation president Huang Chang-ling (黃長玲) said.
Huang said there was an international trend toward the sexes having equal weight in a government. This was a measure of democratic progress, she said.
According to the foundation's figures, female officials occupied only 19.4 percent of Cabinet-level positions. Only one female minister without portfolio has been appointed out of the seven posts available.
"Turnover among government-appointed officials is nothing unusual. However, we do hope that female officials who are not retained will be recognized for their accomplishments in office," said Chen I-lin (
Chiang Yue-chin (蔣月琴), the secretary-general of the National Union of Taiwan Women Association, said that female Cabinet officials such as National Youth Commission Chairwoman Lin Fang-mei (林芳玫), Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Council for Cultural Affairs Chairwoman Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀) and Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) had performed outstandingly, but that their political futures had become unclear in the wake of the reshuffle.
"Although they did a good job in office, they were not treated with a lot of respect in the way they were replaced, nor were they offered substantial positions elsewhere," Chiang said.
Chang Chin-fen (
"Such training demands that female politicians have the opportunity to serve on the Cabinet. However, the reshuffle seems to be rewarding those who campaigned hard for [Cabinet appointments] during the presidential election," she said.
"If the DPP government continues to use a `lack of qualified female officials' as an excuse, then it should face the music for not having provided sufficient job training," Chang said.
Huang said that while it was important to appoint qualified officials to any government post, an increase in the quantity of female officials in a government also had an important role to play in advancing women's interests.
"Of course quality is important. But having more female government officials, especially high-ranking ones such as ministry heads, will allow people to become more accustomed to the idea of having strong female figures in government," she said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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