Today the Executive Yuan held a joint handover ceremony for the premier and all the Cabinet ministers. Presided over by Vice President Wu Den-yih, the ceremony commenced with departing Premier Jiang Yi-huah handing over the seal of the office to incoming Premier Mao Chi-kuo.
In his address, Mao extolled Jiang's steady leadership of the Executive Yuan and encouraged the new administrative team to be more humble in facing future challenges, take the initiative to understand the public's expectations and demands, and communicate proactively so as to bring about cross-generational collaboration and help young people realize their dreams.
In the past year and nine months, the administrative team strongly felt Premier Jiang's keen emotional intelligence, Mao stated. When faced with difficulties or challenging tasks, Jiang was able to handle them patiently and resolve them, and this trait is highly admired and worthy of emulation, Mao said.
Even though the nation faced "wave after wave" of immense challenges from both international situations and domestic public opinion during Jiang's premiership, under Jiang's steady steering the Cabinet was able to brave the storms and move forward, Mao added.
Jiang was an outstanding scholar in political science who then took up politics and became a forward-looking statesman, said Mao. "Premier Jiang is diligent and hardworking, and his loyal and steady political style has left a model for the entire Cabinet to follow. In this time of enormous changes, he bravely chose to shoulder responsibility, garnering our respect as well as that of the society and nation."
Premier Mao stated that he himself had accepted the presidential appointment to the premiership because "for a nation to remain stable and functional, its administration must not be disrupted and must continuously provide services to the people."
Mao pointed out that he has been appointed to several critical positions during his years as a public servant, including handling public works projects and disaster responses as well as helping Chunghwa Telecom to transform into a privately run enterprise.
Acknowledging the challenges before him, Mao said, "I have managed to overcome all the difficulties I have faced, but the great responsibilities of premiership far surpass these crisis management experiences."
However, Mao's educational background is in engineering, and an engineer has no right to ignore or shy away from problems, he said. Thus, he pledged that as premier, he will face problems as soon as he identifies them and offer the best solutions.
Premier Mao also emphasized that the government must embrace new concepts and adopt effective measures to help young people build their lives and careers; provide care and support for the elderly; create business opportunities for enterprises; and establish a supportive environment for the disadvantaged to live with dignity.
Vice President Wu praised former Premier Jiang for his willingness to take on challenges and stand fast to his beliefs. Under Jiang's leadership, Taiwan was evaluated positively by prestigious global surveying institutions, Wu noted. For instance, Taiwan ranked:
- No. 16 in "Ease of Doing Business" in the World Bank's Doing Business 2014 report, based on a survey of 189 economies worldwide in 2013. (Taiwan had been No. 61 in 2008.)
- No. 3 in the U.S.-based Business Environment Risk Intelligence's rating for "Profit Opportunity Recommendation" published in December 2013.
- No. 14 in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015.
These great achievements have attested to the former premier's outstanding leadership, the vice president said.
Jiang pointed out that the country's administrative tasks are accomplished by countless political appointees in the spirit of a relay. For instance, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan drafted the reconstruction blueprint after Typhoon Morakot swept through Taiwan, and then Premier Wu Den-yih continued the job by promoting establishment of permanent housing and reconstruction of industries. Premier Sean Chen kept supervising the tasks, and eventually the reconstruction committee completed its missions during Jiang's premiership.
Another example is the free economic pilot zones (FEPZs), which were planned in Premier Wu's term. The Executive Yuan revised the draft of the special act for FEPZs in the first half of this year, a task that required then-Vice Premier Mao's efforts. Jiang hopes that as premier, Mao can persuade the Legislature to pass this act as soon as possible.
Jiang noted that upon taking office, he set a Cabinet goal of "making Taiwan a democratic society of prosperity and propriety," and progress was made during his tenure. For example:
- The National Development Council's monthly monitoring indicators have flashed green, indicating steady economic growth, for nine consecutive months.
- The highest increase in the average real regular wage in four years took place from this January to September.
- The income difference between the richest and the poorest households was the smallest in four years.
- The government invested NT$20 billion (US$655.7 million) in vocational education reforms.
- Resources from various ministries were gathered to promote cultural and creative industries and social enterprises.
- More than nine million visitors have come to Taiwan this year, creating an unprecedented boom for the tourism industry.
These achievements reflect all Cabinet members' hard work and accountability to the public, Jiang said.
In closing, Jiang indicated that he would "stay beside the track" to cheer on his teammates taking the administration's tasks forward, and he would like to thank all his supervisors, colleagues, friends and family members again for their assistance and support.