Premier-designate Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced more new members of his Cabinet that is to take office on May 20, with five of those appointed keeping their posts and one new face being introduced.
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲), Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青), Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Director-General Su Chun-jung (蘇俊榮) are to keep their posts, Cho told a news conference in Taipei.
Acting Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) is to formally head the agency in the new Cabinet, Cho said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The only new face announced yesterday was Tainan Research, Development and Evaluation Commission head Chen Shu-tzu (陳淑姿), who was named to lead the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
Most of the people announced yesterday are agency heads, and they have all worked in the public sector for decades and are seasoned officials, Cho said.
“Their rich experience and commitment to teamwork would facilitate the new government’s transition and drive the implementation of policies,” he said.
Cho said that Chen Shu-tzu has served at the local government level for years and was involved in the merger of Tainan County and Tainan City into a special municipality in 2010.
The 67-year-old also participated in financial planning in Tainan and helped significantly reduce the debt owed by the city government, which allowed more funding to be allocated to local flood control efforts, he added.
The premier-designate said he hoped to take advantage of her expertise to expand the central government’s investments in society and allocate resources fairly.
Chen Junne-jih, 65, was deputy agriculture minister before being named acting minister in September last year after his predecessor, Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲), resigned over a controversy involving imported eggs.
Chuang and Hsu were deputy heads of their respective agencies before assuming their current posts in January last year following a Cabinet reshuffle.
Cho lauded Kuan’s efforts to promote marine conservation laws and her experience in overseeing the Coast Guard Administration, including its efforts to deal with unidentified boats illegally entering the country’s waters.
Su is to remain in the post that he has held since 2022.
Cho commended Su for his efforts to digitize personnel management and said that he would continue to serve civil servants and the public attentively.
With the announcements, 26 members of the new Cabinet have been named, including the premier, vice premier, Cabinet secretary-general and Cabinet spokesperson.
Still to be named are the foreign affairs and defense ministers, the head of the Mainland Affairs Council, and seven to nine ministers without portfolio.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS