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.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the