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One of the stories we looked at this past week was that President Ma Ying-jeou resigned from his position as chairman of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) on Wednesday. His resignation followed big losses for his party in local elections last weekend. The KMT only won 6 out of 22 cities and counties. It was the worst mid-term election defeat in the party’s history.
Ma apologized to his supporters and bowed for 10 seconds to display his sincerity. He said the party’s reforms have not lived up to the people’s expectations and apologized for disappointing the people.
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Also this past week, Premier Jiang Yi-huah and the Cabinet resigned en masse, also following the Kuomintang’s (KMT) landslide defeat in the local elections last weekend.
At a meeting following the mass resignation, Jiang urged his Cabinet to remain steadfast in their positions during a caretaker period, in order to ensure the normal operations of the country.
Jiang also spoke about the accomplishments of the Cabinet over the past 21 months since he took over the premiership. He said that while the Cabinet ministers have faced a lot of criticisms, their hard work and sacrifices will be remembered throughout history.
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And finally this past week, Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo has been named Taiwan’s new premier. President Ma said that Mao has experience in several different ministries, and has served as vice premier for nearly two years. The president said that this experience will help Mao insure a seamless handover in the day-to-day operations of the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, Science and Technology Minister Simon Chang has been named the new vice premier. Also, Cabinet Minister John Deng has been chosen as the new economics minister. Deng has extensive experience working as a negotiator under both Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party administrations. His extensive experience includes serving as deputy economics minister and deputy representative to the World Trade Organization.
The new Cabinet ministers will assume their posts on Monday.