Premier William Lai (賴清德) and Presidential Office Secretary-
General Chen Chu (陳菊) have decided to remain in their posts in the interest of continuity, after offering to step down to take responsibility for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) crushing losses in Saturday’s nine-in-one elections.
The DPP won only six of the 22 city mayor and county commissioner seats nationwide, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won 15.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Lai, who took office in September last year, tendered his resignation on Saturday, but President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she would not accept it.
At a news conference yesterday, Lai said that after talking with Tsai the previous day he had decided to stay on as premier to help advance the government’s policies.
“The election results showed that many people in Taiwan are unhappy with the government’s performance, but the nation needs continuity in government policy, so I will stay on to ensure political stability,” Lai said.
“I promise that the Cabinet will work with all local governments and provide them with the necessary assistance for major development projects throughout the nation to improve public welfare,” he said.
Asked whether there would be a Cabinet reshuffle, the premier said he would make adjustments at an appropriate time in line with public expectations.
Chen has also retracted her decision to resign, the Presidential Office said.
In a statement yesterday, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said that Chen decided to stay on in the interest of political stability.
Several DPP lawmakers have expressed their desire to see a Cabinet reshuffle before the Lunar New Year.
However, Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said that an election loss cannot be attributed to a single cause, but is a combination of multiple factors.
If everyone resigns because they think they were the cause, then everyone would have to resign, he said.
Right now, the focus should be on stabilizing the political situation, he said, adding that political stability is a concern not only for a political party, but also the public.
If the DPP stabilizes the political situation and moves in the right direction, it could still win the hearts of the public, he added.
DPP members are also reassessing the relationship between its legislators and the administration.
The drafting of legislation needs to be a collective decision made by the party caucus, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said.
In the past, most of the time the Executive Yuan would create a policy, and the Legislative Yuan would “clean up the mess and defend it,” he said.
Before any policy is formed, it should respect the views of legislators, he added.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said she hoped that DPP lawmakers could participate in the executive branch’s policymaking process — not to interfere with the Executive Yuan’s administrative power, but to use their grasp of public opinion to help the administration create policies that better meet the needs of the public.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS