《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Premier Chang leads Cabinet to resign en masse

DEEPLY GRATEFUL: The premier said that he thought highly of the Cabinet and its performance as he thanked its members for staying the course during difficult times

By Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

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Premier Simon Chang （張善政） yesterday led the Cabinet to resign en masse, three months and 12 days after he took over the position from former premier Mao Chi-kuo （毛治國）, who resigned after the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） suffered a rout in January’s legislative and presidential elections.

The Cabinet resigned eight days before the new administration is inaugurated on Friday next week, and no more major decisions or new projects can be authorized.

Chang said in his resignation speech that he believes his Cabinet was the one “with the best cost-performance” in the nation’s history, as it had to face various situations in the past three months, such as the Meinong earthquake on Feb. 6, the gruesome murder of a girl in Taipei’s Neihu District （內湖）, the Kenya deportation incident, Taiwanese fishing boats getting shot at in the Indonesian Sea in March and another detained near Okinotori atoll earlier this month and the World Health Assembly invitation, which all required immediate responses and handling.

The Cabinet made positive contributions on various fronts, he said, including pushing for a “safe residence project” after the Meinong earthquake that would deal with soil liquefaction problems and improve architectural regulations that were not comprehensive enough, the proposal of five draft acts aimed at tackling digital convergence issues and a proposal for the use of mobile payment services like Apple Pay in Taiwan, which was approved on Wednesday.

Chang said he was thankful to the Cabinet for preparing documents for the takeover of the incoming administration after premier-designate Lin Chuan （林全） revealed the new Cabinet members.

“The takeover this time is an unprecedented one, which could constitute a fundamental example for facilitating future government transitions,” Chang said.

“In the past four years and in the past three months, members of this Cabinet have faced lawmakers, unreasonable questioning and a dozen of emergency incidents. I think highly of this Cabinet and its performance and am thankful that [the members] have stayed during most difficult times,” the premier said.

Chang said his mood is getting lighter every day with the inauguration approaching and “signing the mass resignation is a milestone that certainly made me more relaxed.”

Asked about his plans after the new government takes power, he said he would probably take a break for a month and made it clear that he would leave politics, with academia or an industry-related job in mind.

“I am never a person who shouts ‘dong suan’ [當選, Taiwanese （commonly known as Hoklo） for ‘get elected’] in election campaigns and there is little chance of me becoming a candidate,” he said. “In the past four years, even when I did help with a campaign, which was fewer than five times, it was by putting forward some ideas concerning policies, not actually stumping for someone.”

He said that he is deeply worried about the nation’s economic development and industrial transformation.

“I hope the new government could be rid of ideologies and view our work objectively,” he said. “It should continue those that they consider good, which are most of them, so that we do not have to reboot every four years.”

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES