1)
One of the top stories from this past week was that Premier Mao Chi-kuo has tendered his resignation and taken a leave of absence. Cabinet Spokesman Sun Lih-chyun said on Monday that Vice Premier Chang San-cheng will fill in as acting premier.
The Cabinet called an extraordinary session on Monday afternoon. During the meeting, the premier announced that he and the Cabinet would resign en masse. That’s following the elections which saw opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen beat her competitor from the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), Eric Chu.
Acting Premier Chang San-cheng said the Cabinet will not make any major decisions during the transition period.
2)
Also this past week, President-elect Tsai Ing-wen says that one of the bases of her cross-strait policy is the historical fact that the two sides across the Taiwan Strait held talks in 1992. She was speaking on Thursday in an interview with the Liberty Times.
According to the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), the two sides reached a consensus during those talks. The party and the current administration have maintained that under the so-called "1992 Consensus", Taiwan and China agree that both sides are part of “One China”, but that each has separate interpretations of what “One China” means.
However, Tsai and her party have refused to acknowlege that there was a consensus. The KMT has urged Tsai and her party -- the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -- to uphold the consensus as the basis for cross-strait ties.
3)
And finally, this past week, Taiwanese baseball pitcher Chen Wei-yin says he is proud to join the Miami Marlins. Chen was speaking Friday morning upon returning to Taiwan from the United States.
Chen just signed a five-year, US$80 million contract with the baseball team, making him the world’s highest-paid Chinese speaking athlete.
It is expected that Chen will be second starter against the Detroit Tigers in early April.