President Elect Tsai Ing-wen says she hopes that President Ma Ying-jeou will keep the existing Cabinet running smoothly in the months before she takes office.
Ma has proposed letting the opposition DPP select a new Cabinet. The DPP won a majority in the legislature in elections last Saturday, and Ma’s Cabinet has offered to resign.
Tsai said Wednesday that she was caught by surprise when asked about the issue. She said she told Ma during a phone conversation Saturday that it may be unconstitutional to have the majority party select the Cabinet. Tsai said that the DPP and the current administration will sit down to discuss details of the power transfer once DPP Secretary-General Joseph Wu returns from a trip to the US.
Tsai also addressed calls from mayors of southern cities to move central government offices to the south. Tsai said she believes that the mayors are voicing the views of the people. But she said there are factors that need to be considered such as the effective use and allocation of national resources and balanced development in different regions.