Premier-designate Chen Chien-jen (???) on Saturday named former Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (???) as interior minister and Deputy Minister of Culture Hsiao Tsung-huang (???) as director of the National Palace Museum (NPM).
In a Facebook post, Chen unveiled a second list of incoming Cabinet appointees, with Lin, Hsiao, and Culture Minister Shih Che (??), who is currently Kaohsiung deputy mayor, being new additions to the Cabinet, which is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 31.
Lin was appointed to fill the position left vacant by Hsu Kuo-yung (???) who resigned in December last year, with the post temporarily taken over by Deputy Interior Minister Hua Ching-chun (???).
The incumbent NPM Director Wu Mi-cha (???) will be replaced by Hsiao, who served as director of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Museum, and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts before being tapped to be a deputy minister of culture since 2018.
Minister of Culture-designate Shih will replace Lee Yung-te (???), who has been appointed as a minister without portfolio, according to Chen’s statement released on Friday.
Shih, 53, was a leader of the student demonstration for democracy in 1990, known as the “Wild Lily student movement.” He has served in the Kaohsiung City government since 2016, first as director of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs before becoming deputy mayor.
Meanwhile, Chen announced that Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (???), Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (???), Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (???), Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (???), Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (??), and Environmental Protection Administration Minister Chang Tzi-chin (???) will remain in their posts.
Chen also retained the services of Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (???), Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Huang Tien-mu (???), Veterans Affairs Council Minister Feng Shih-kuan (???), Minister of the Council of Indigenous People Icyang Parod, and Hakka Affairs Council Minister Yiong Con-ziin (???).
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chu Tzer-ming (???), Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Minister Su Chun-jung (???), and Chairperson of Taiwan Council for U.S. Affairs Yang Jen-ni (???) also stay on.
The latest announcement came after former Vice President Chen Chien-jen was officially named the new premier on Friday by President Tsai Ing-wen (???), who described Chen as the best person to unite the nation at a time when Taiwan faces challenges ahead.
The Cabinet of current Premier Su Tseng-chang (???) will resign en masse on Jan. 30, clearing the way for the new Cabinet to be sworn in during an official handover ceremony on Jan. 31.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel