《TAIPEI TIMES》 Reshuffle when ‘time is right’: Lai

MAJOR MOVES: Respondents to a survey last month were unable to recognize Cabinet ministers, which could hurt the president’s approval ratings, the pollster said

By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

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Premier William Lai （賴清德） yesterday suggested a Cabinet reshuffle, saying he would inform the public about his plans in due course.

“I will make a report to the public [about the Cabinet reshuffle] when the time is right,” Lai said during an Executive Yuan news conference, where he announced plans to improve Taiwan’s start-up environment.

Asked if he had met with President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） over the Lunar New Year holiday to discuss the restructuring as reported by local media, Lai said that he had met with Tsai on a regular and an ad hoc basis.

Lai did not give an outright confirmation of speculation about a reshuffle, which resurfaced last week.

A report by online Chinese-language news outlet Up Media on Wednesday said that Lai and Tsai met on Monday to exchange views on Cabinet appointments.

According to the report, Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu （林美珠）, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung （潘文忠） and Vice Minister of National Defense Admiral Pu Tze-chun （蒲澤春） would be replaced, likely by Deputy Minister of Labor Su Li-chiung （蘇麗瓊）, Kaohsiung Education Bureau Director-General Fan Sun-lu （范巽綠） and Air Force Commander General Shen Yi-ming （沈一鳴） respectively.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan （賀陳旦） and Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong （葉俊榮）, who have long been speculated to be replaced, would stay, the report said.

Other media outlets reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee （李大維） would be replaced in what would be a minor reshuffle that should see the departure of only a few ministers and a higher number of deputy ministers.

Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim （蕭美琴） would reportedly to be appointed either a deputy minister of foreign affairs or an envoy before being officially nominated as the foreign minister.

Hsiao denied the report, saying she would remain at her post as a lawmaker representing Hualien.

Former DPP legislator Lin Cho-shui （林濁水） said a large-scale reorganization is necessary as Cabinet members have unhealthily low publicity ratings, citing a Jan. 30 survey by Chinese-language news site my-Formosa.com.

Less than 20 percent of respondents could name a given minister and only 0.8 percent knew who the minister of economic affairs is.

The low identification rate of Cabinet members — some of whom are in their second year of office — should prompt a large-scale reshuffle, as a minor restructuring could lead to a further drop in the approval ratings of the president and the premier, Lin Cho-shui added.

Late yesterday, allegations emerged that Lin Mei-chu and Minister of Defense Feng Shih-kuan （馮世寬） were to resign, but the Cabinet did not confirm the resignations.

Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-Yung （徐國勇） said he could not comment until the decision was finalized.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES