Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) led members of his Cabinet in explaining government policies to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) highest decision-making body yesterday, seeking to strengthen communication with the KMT’s Central Standing Committee.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) took the occasion to call on party members to support the Cabinet and refrain from criticizing the administration in front of reporters.
At a dinner gathering hosted by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) with KMT legislators in attendance on Tuesday night, Liu reportedly complained that the media have been negative about the government’s performance and that KMT legislators have failed to defend the Cabinet before journalists.
PHOTO: CNA
“This is an extremely difficult time for the country ... Party members can make suggestions in private [but should] avoid saying things that would only make our enemies happy,” Wu told the committee at the KMT headquarters yesterday.
Wu urged party members to spare no efforts in assisting Ma’s administration, as the KMT’s reputation would suffer if the government failed to meet public expectations.
The KMT will invite Ma, Liu and other Cabinet members to participate in a forum on legislative affairs today. Wu said the party and government would work closely to strengthen the administration’s performance, but added that the KMT would not meddle with the government’s policies.
“The party and the government are not separate, but at the same time, we will establish a party-state relationship that meets public expectations,” he said.
Accompanied by Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) and other ministers, Liu explained the government’s strategies on a variety of issues, from dealing with the damage wrought by Typhoon Sinlaku to protecting consumers from toxic milk powder from China and minimizing the impact of US investment house Lehman Brothers’ collapse.
The premier pledged to end the economic crisis by relaxing investment regulations.
Liu said the country had survived the Asian financial crisis and the oil crisis under a KMT government and that the Cabinet had the confidence to steer the country through the global financial crisis and improve the domestic economy.
The premier also urged the legislature to pass the general budget bill during this session.
He promised to listen to public opinion and said all branches of government would do so before finalizing any policies.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS