Appointed government officials should concentrate on their own work rather than stump for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) election candidates, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) said yesterday.
Chen said the "stumping mechanism" will only be activated after next month.
The next legislative elections will adopt a new "single-member constituency, two votes" electoral system and the legislature will also be streamlined by halving the number of legislators to 113.
Chen said Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has instructed him to study a stumping mechanism for appointed government officials, adding that he will only work on the mechanism in the latter half of next month.
He said the present emphasis for officials will be to push for better administrative performance, as well as to work in tune with the screening of bills in the legislature, adding that good Cabinet performance will be the best campaign tactic for the DPP.
Responding to reports by the United Daily News that the stumping mechanism will be activated after Oct. 10, he said it would be impossible to achieve this so soon.
Chen noted that the legislature began its new session early this month and that the Executive Yuan has to give administrative reports to the Legislative Yuan, while Cabinet officials also have to go to the legislature to answer questions from lawmakers.
In the past, the legislature has gone into recess one month ahead of the elections to allow lawmakers to go back to their constituencies to prepare.
Chen also denied reports that the Executive Yuan has earmarked officials perceived to be good orators -- Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) and Council of Agriculture Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), to be the main stumping campaigners for DPP candidates.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we