Chinatrust Financial Holding Co’s (中信金控) chief economic adviser Christina Liu (劉憶如) informed reporters late on Friday that she had been appointed to succeed Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) as head of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD).
Liu, daughter of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) minister of finance Guo Woan-rong (郭婉容), called reporters in person, saying she had obtained the approval of Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) to make the calls.
Approached by reporters yesterday, Wu refused to confirm the news.
After serving two terms as a legislator-at-large for the People First Party, Liu worked at Daiwa Securities and then Chinatrust Financial Holding Co.
With a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago, Liu has been a professor at the City University of New York, University of Chicago, Australian National University, Beijing Tsing Hua University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and National Taiwan University.
Wu said he would unveil new Cabinet officials, mostly in economics-related ministries, all at once before Wednesday, ahead of the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration on Thursday.
Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), one of the officials believed likely to lose his position, was tight-lipped yesterday when asked for comment.
Speaking to reporters, Liu said she was keen to help the government make the next decade a “golden age” for Taiwan, a pledge made by Ma when pushing to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
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
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant