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Taiwan’s President announces new cabinet |
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May 2, 2000 TAIPEI, MAY 1 (AP) - Taiwan's newly elected president named his top economic planner and representative to Japan on Monday, rounding out his Cabinet about a month after his stunning election victory.
Chen Po-chih, 51, an economics professor at the elite National Taiwan University, will serve as the chairman of the Council of Economic Planning and Development, which maps out the government's economic policies.
President-elect Chen Shui-bian also named economist Lo Fu-chuan, an academic based in Japan, as his representative to Tokyo Taiwan's second most important friend after the United States. Lo will be Taiwan's de facto ambassador, since Taipei does not have formal diplomatic ties with Japan. Since China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, Beijing has successfully used its political clout to block Taiwan which it considers a renegade province from establishing formal diplomatic relations with Japan and most other nations.
Lo will replace Chuang Ming-yao, a former admiral who since 1996 has been the representative to Japan, which once ruled Taiwan and continues to be a major trading partner.
Chen Po-chih has been a longtime economic adviser to both the president-elect and to retiring President Lee Teng-hui, who steps down May 20. He also is a director of Taiwan's Central Bank.
Local media have said Chen Po-chih was a principal architect of Lee's "go slow, be patient" policy on doing business with Mainland China. The policy supports a decades-old ban on direct trade, communication and transportation links with the mainland. It also limits Taiwanese investment in China.
But the economist has said there was a need to review that policy in view of Taiwan's bid to enter the World Trade Organization, which sets the ground rules for international trade.
Taiwan hopes to enter the WTO late this year, after China joins the organization.
The president-elect's upset victory during the March elections ended the Nationalist Party's five decades of rule on Taiwan. Chen has had to cross party lines to make up for his small Democratic Progressive Party's lack of experience in running a government.
Shortly after his victory, Chen Shui-bian appointed longtime Nationalist and popular Defense Minister Tang Fei as his premier - the No. 3 spot in his government. Part of the premier's job is getting lawmakers to support the president's bills.
In the new cabinet, 15 posts are held by Nationalists, while only seven are members of Chen's party. Others include independent scholars and academics, and nine of the posts will be held by women.
"We all know how great our responsibility is, but I believe with our energy we can overcome all obstacles," Chen said at a luncheon where he presented his cabinet to the media.
"We are the government of all the people. We have no personal or party success. The most important thing is we are a Cabinet for the people," he said.
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