Day: January 19, 2023

Premier Su Tseng-chang (???) announced on Thursday that his Cabinet will resign en masse, and urged a Cabinet reshuffle, weeks after the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered a stinging defeat in last November’s local government elections.

Su made the announcement on Facebook after the Legislature approved the central government’s general budget for fiscal 2023 and closed for winter recess. His resignation is pending approval from President Tsai Ing-wen (???).

Su said following the approval of the budget, he met with President Tsai and again tendered his resignation after an earlier offer to resign was turned down by the president on election night.

He urged the president to swiftly appoint a new premier.

Su, 75, has headed the executive branch under Tsai since January 2019, making him the longest-serving premier since the Republic of China, Taiwan’s de jure name, first held direct presidential elections in 1996.

Tsai resigned as DPP chair in the wake of November’s drubbing, with calls for a Cabinet reshuffle following soon after.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

The Legislature on Thursday passed a NT$2.689 trillion (US$88.59 billion) central government general budget plan for fiscal 2023, after cutting NT$30 billion, or 1.1 percent, from the original spending proposal.

The reduction of NT$30 billion, or 1.1 percent of the government-proposed budget of NT$2.71 trillion, was the highest absolute amount since 2014, though it was also the lowest percentage cut from the budget since that year.

The spending cut was agreed upon by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and three opposition parties through negotiation, to facilitate the passage of the bill before the Legislature entered winter recess for a month Thursday.

The main targets of the cuts were allowances for government officials to make overseas trips to attend training programs, maintenance fees for government buildings, facilities, vehicles, office appliances or equipment, and the budgets earmarked for policy advertisements.

Of the NT$2.689 trillion in spending, the largest chunk of NT$715.4 billion was social welfare spending, or 26.3 percent of the central government’s general budget, followed by NT$496.2 billion on education, technology and culture (18.2%) and NT$483.1 billion on economic development (17.8%).

The allocation of NT$415.1 billion for the Ministry of National Defense came next, a 12.9 percent year-on-year increase and a record high. Total defense spending for this year will reach NT$586.3 billion with the addition of special budgets and other funds, according to the ministry.

The Legislature projected revenue to be NT$2.579 trillion this year.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) on Thursday said there is no evidence that three current and former employees stole data amid a recent probe launched by prosecutors into the National Health Insurance (NHI) system.

The suspects — a woman surnamed Hsieh (?) who is a division chief at the NHIA, a male NHIA employee surnamed Lee (?), and a retired NHIA chief secretary identified by his last name Yeh (?) — are being investigated for allegedly collecting and leaking the personal data of government officials responsible for national security affairs.

Due to the nature of their work, Hsieh and Lee have used their clearance to search and look for the personal data of multiple individuals stored on NHI system for over a decade, the health insurance administration said.

During this period, records show that the two logged into the system to search for 133,000 and 35,000 entries, respectively, but no evidence was found that indicated they collected and leaked such data, the NHIA said.

Meanwhile, Yeh never had access to the system when he was employed at the NHIA and therefore there are no records of him searching any data, it said, following an internal administrative inquiry launched separately by the NHIA in the wake of the probe.

All three were brought in to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for questioning early last week in relation to alleged breaches of the National Intelligence Services Act.

The investigation was initiated after prosecutors received a tipoff that Hsieh and Lee allegedly used their clearance as NHIA employees to collect and leak the personal data of government officials responsible for national security affairs from 2009 to 2022.

Yeh is alleged to have instructed the other two to steal the information over a period of 13 years, according to prosecutors.

A preliminary investigation by prosecutors found that Lee logged into the NHI system on multiple occasions to look for personal data belonging to officials from the National Police Agency, Investigation Bureau, and intelligence officers in national security agencies.

Tsai Hsiu-ching (???), director of the NHIA’s ethics office, told reporters Thursday Hsieh alone searched about 100,000 personal entries of individuals stored in the NHI system between Aug. 3 and Aug. 8 in 2018.

However, the NHIA was aware of her activity during this period, likely for the purpose of statistical analysis, and not deliberately targeting officers working in national security agencies, Tsai said.

There is currently no evidence that these data were copied onto an external storage drive, she said, adding that the information gathered will be provided to prosecutors in their investigation.

The office director said the health insurance administration is working constantly to review and adjust its internal control mechanisms on information security protection to prevent data leaks, such as limiting the right to access important data for its employees.

NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (???) last week said Hsieh and Lee have been transferred out of their original duties and restricted from using their clearance to access the NHI system during the investigation.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

The Kaohsiung District Court on Thursday overturned its earlier decision, ruling that former legislator Lo Chih-ming (???) and retired Navy major general Hsia Fu-hsiang (???) should be detained and held incommunicado on suspicion of helping China develop an espionage ring in Taiwan.

The district court made the decision on the grounds that Hsia and Lo, suspected of recruiting retired military personnel to travel on hosted trips to China, are a flight risk and likely to collude with others or tamper with evidence, it said in a statement.

The case stems from allegations that Lo recruited Hsia into a Chinese spy ring and the two subsequently used their connections to recruit retired military personnel to travel to China to be “entertained” by officials there, with the aim of helping Beijing build a spy network in Taiwan.

After receiving a tip-off, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office, in collaboration with investigators, on Jan. 4 carried out searches and questioned more than 10 individuals in relation to the case.

During the questioning, some retired military officers admitted to having been entertained when they traveled to China, but said they were unaware of the purpose behind the hospitality.

That same day, prosecutors requested authorization to detain Lo and Hsia over suspected violations of the National Security Act, while three others were freed on bail or without bail. The five were listed as defendants, while 16 others were listed as witnesses.

On late Jan. 5, the district court set bail for Lo and Hsia at NT$200,000 (US$6,578) and NT$150,000, respectively.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, the next day prosecutors filed an appeal against the bail ruling with the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court, which sent the case back to the district court.

On Thursday, the district court reversed its previous decision, saying that although Lo and Hsia denied helping China develop an espionage ring, evidence shows the two are suspected of violating the National Security Act.

Meanwhile, both Lo an Hsia pose an extremely high flight risk given that they traveled abroad several times during the course of the investigation and have relatives living overseas, the court said in the statement.

In addition, according to the testimony of witnesses, the travel itineraries that Lo and Hsia arranged for the witnesses to go to China are highly likely to be related to Beijing’s cross-Taiwan Strait unification propaganda.

Moreover, the discrepancies between the statements of the two and the witnesses have yet to be clarified, and there are still other individuals related to the case who have not yet been questioned. As such, there is still a risk of collusion between Lo and Hsia and the witnesses, according to the court statement.

The district court decided the two should be detained, held incommunicado and barred from reading newspapers and watching TV at the detention center, it said in the statement.

Lo, 65, served as a legislator for the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union from 2002 to 2008 and later as chairman of Taiyen Biotech’s Xiamen subsidiary. He currently heads a real-estate development company.

Hsia served as commander of the the destroyer ROCS Yue-Yang and deputy director of the Navy Command’s Political Warfare Department.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said Thursday that it expects to work with Lai Ching-te (???), the new chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to promote shared values and interests, amid foreign media speculation that Washington is concerned about Lai’s pro-Taiwan independence stance.

In a statement, the de-facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan said it “congratulates William Lai (Lai Ching-te) on his victory in the DPP chairman election. We look forward to working with Chairman Lai to promote our shared democratic values and interests.”

AIT made the remarks in response to CNA inquiries after the Financial Times reported on Jan. 16 that Lai, the Republic of China (Taiwan) vice president, is expected to run for the presidency in 2024 as the leader of the DPP.

The report noted that Lai’s past description of himself as a “political worker for Taiwan independence” has caused concerns in Washington, even though he later added the attribute “pragmatic”.

“There are concerns in Washington about his experience and that of his advisers on international or cross-Strait affairs,” said Ivan Kanapathy, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former National Security Council official , according to the Financial Times report.

In contrast to Tsai, a trade lawyer who helped negotiate Taiwan’s accession to the World Trade Organization before running for office, Lai’s main support is in the south, the heartland of pro-independence sentiment, the report said.

However, the report also cited Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, as saying that anxiety about Lai being pro-independence is partly due to a lack of understanding of Taiwan’s domestic political discourse.

“The apprehension many express about him reflects more latent concerns about the ‘deep green’ every time an election comes around. To be fair, Lai has played in that pool, but he is becoming more careful now,” Hammond-Chambers was quoted as saying in the report.

Lai, 63, won the party’s uncontested chairmanship election on Jan. 15, which was called after President Tsai Ing-wen (???) resigned the position following the party’s bruising defeat in last November’s local government elections.

After assuming his position as DPP chair on Jan. 18, Lai was asked by reporters to elaborate on how he identifies as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence.”

In response, Lai said: “I would like to reiterate that Taiwan is already an independent and sovereign nation and thus we do not have a need to further declare Taiwan independence.”

Lai vowed that the DPP under his leadership will continue to uphold the commitments made by President Tsai to safeguard the nation’s free and democratic constitutional system, national sovereignty, and the rights of all Taiwanese to determine the future of the nation.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel