The Cabinet line-up remained virtually unchanged ahead of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration for his second term today.
The Presidential Office yesterday announced its new Cabinet team, which is led by Premier Sean Chen
Chen was designated by Ma to succeed Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) as premier in early February following the Ma-Wu ticket’s election in January.
Despite falling approval ratings for Ma and the Chen Cabinet, alongside rising calls for a Cabinet reshuffle, virtually all former Cabinet members have kept their previous positions in office.
All minister-level members were reappointed, with the exception of minister without portfolio Chang Chin-fu (張進福), who is to return to academia.
Chang’s duties, which cover policy coordination on issues related to energy (including nuclear power), environmental protection, digital convergence, transportation and communications, among others, has been left unfilled for the time being.
The new Ministry of Culture, which was upgraded from the Council of Cultural Affairs, officially begins operations today and is to be led by Lung Ying-tai (龍應台).
Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉), a professor at the Graduate Institute of Mass Communication at National Taiwan Normal University, was appointed as spokesperson of the Executive Yuan, leading the new Office of Information Services.
Shaw Yu-ming (邵玉銘), chairman of the Coordination Council of North American Affairs — counterpart of the American Institute in Taiwan — will be replaced by David Lee (李大維), now the nation’s representative to Canada.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not announced who is to succeed Lee.
Deputy ministers of the Council of Economic Planning and Development San Gee (單驥) and Hu Chung-ying (胡仲英) both left the Cabinet. Meanwhile, Wu Ming-chi (吳明機), director of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of Industrial Technology, has been appointed vice minister of the council.
Chang Yun-cheng (張雲程) and Lin Chin-tien (林金田), who were vice ministers of the Council of Culture, were appointed vice ministers of the Ministry of Culture. Mou Chung-yuan (牟中原), a professor of chemistry at National Taiwan University, and Henry Sun (孫以瀚), a researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, were appointed as deputy ministers of the National Science Council, replacing Chen Cheng-hong (陳正宏) and Chang Ching-fong (張清風).
Chen Wen-te (陳文德), a councilor at the Council of Agriculture, was promoted to deputy minister of the council, replacing Huang Yu-tsai (黃有才). Deputy minister of the Public Construction Commission Wu Kuo-an (吳國安) was replaced by Chen Chwen-jing (陳純敬), a senior consultant from the private sector.
Uya Pawan (洪良全), director of the Department of Economic and Public Construction of the Council of Indigenous Peoples, succeeds Xia Jin-long (夏錦龍) as deputy minister.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
RSS