Premier-designate Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced the latest list of deputy ministers who are to take office after the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) on May 20.
The list, a mixture of old and new officials, ensures continuity, with officials who have performed well staying on while new blood is injected into the incoming administration, Cho said, adding that the new Cabinet would advance democracy, peace and prosperity.
Representative to France Francois Wu (吳志中) has been tapped to be a deputy foreign minister, joining incumbent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
As an envoy, Wu is known for his initiative, making high-profile media appearances and bolstering bilateral cooperation with France in business and public health, Cho said.
Deputy ministers of national defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) and Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) are to continue in their posts. Hsu was a former commander of the army, executive officer to the deputy chief of the general staff and commander of the Sixth Army Corps, while Po was a deputy executive officer of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research and air force chief of staff.
Former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Huang Shih-chieh (黃世杰) and National Security Bureau Deputy Director-General Hsu Hsi-hsiang (徐錫祥) are to be deputy ministers of justice.
Huang was on the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee and Internal Administration Committee during his stint as a lawmaker, while Hsu Hsi-hsiang had served as a prosecutor and head prosecutor at the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office, head prosecutor at the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office and Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office, and head prosecutor at the High Prosecutors’ Office.
Ho Chin-tsang (何晉滄), director-general of the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, is to be a deputy minister of economic affairs.
Ho will continue his work to sharpen the international competitiveness of Taiwanese small and medium-sized enterprises and advancing the government’s goal to cut carbon emissions, Cho said.
National Development Council Deputy Minister Kao Shien-quey (高仙桂) and Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) have been retained, as well as Overseas Community Affairs Council Deputy Minister Ruan Jhao-syong (阮昭雄) and Veteran Affairs Council Deputy Minister Fu Cheng-cheng (傅正誠).
Ocean Affairs Council Vice Minister Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅) is to remain in her post, with the other vice ministerial post going to Ocean Conservation Administration Director-General Huang Hsiang-wen (黃向文).
Council of Indigenous Peoples Deputy Minister Qucung Qalavangan is to be joined by Land Administration Department Director Du Chang Mei-chuang (杜張梅莊).
National Palace Museum Director Hsiao Tsung-huang (蕭宗煌) and his deputy, Huang Yung-tai (黃永泰), have also been retained.
Meanwhile, former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲), Taiwan Council for US Affairs Chairperson Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) and National Taiwan University professor of law Lin Ming-Hsin (林明昕) have been tapped to be ministers without portfolio.
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
PROPOSAL: The submarines, the first of which would enter into production in 2026, would fire Harpoon missiles and feature better combat systems than the ‘Hai Kun’ The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has proposed a NT$284 billion (US$8.75 billion) plan to build seven attack submarines using an improved design based on the completed Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” prototype submarine, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The plan — which has the support of high-ranking officials — falls under the ministry’s annual budget proposal that is to be submitted to the Executive Yuan, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The new submarines are designed to fire heavy torpedoes and Harpoon missiles, while the Hai Kun is only capable of firing heavy torpedoes, and