As of yesterday afternoon, much of the new Cabinet consisted of familiar faces, with six members set to remain in their posts and others being filled by incumbent deputy ministers or ministers without portfolio, sources said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Thursday led the Cabinet’s mass resignation ahead of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) second-term inauguration on Wednesday next week, which is when the new Cabinet is to take office.
Sources said that Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) are among the members staying for another term.
Hsu and Lin were asked to remain because of their performance over the past 16 months, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Pan would remain because of his work in implementing the new curriculum in September last year, sources said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) and Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) are also expected to remain, they said.
Su has approved the resignation of Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), sources said, adding that Hakka Affairs Council Minister Lee Yung-de (李永得) would fill the post.
Lee, who headed the Hakka Affairs Council from 2005 to 2008 and 2016 to this year, has long cultivated cultural and arts circles, leading Su to ask him to succeed Cheng, sources said.
Yang Chang-chen (楊長鎮) is to assume Lee’s post, they added.
Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) is to take over as minister of Science and Technology from Chen Liang-gee (陳良基), sources said.
Wu, who served as the chairman of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, was a technology policy adviser to Tsai during her 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns.
Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairman Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧) is to replace Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who has been tipped for a national security or intelligence post, sources said.
Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) is to replace National Development Council Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶), they added.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
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