Premier Chang San-cheng met with premier-designate Lin Chuan today to discuss the government handover, expressing confidence in the incoming Cabinet's ability to tackle the nation's challenges and to exceed the expectations of the people.
Chang and Lin concur that personnel, budget and administrative matters are the top priorities in the transition process, Executive Yuan Sun Lih-chyun said after the meeting.
As for Taiwan's participation at the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), the new government has appointed Lin Tzou-yien to attend as minister of health, Sun said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has submitted the future minister's delegation name list and has directed its overseas representative office to stay in contact with the World Health Organization secretariat to be sure the requirements for Taiwan's WHA attendance remain unchanged.
Since government operations cannot be halted, premier-designate Lin respects each ministry on how they plan and execute their budgets. On the current year budget, however, Lin hopes the ministries can be flexible and leave room for the new government. On cross-year budgets, the incumbent Cabinet will not plan or implement new projects except for urgent ones, such as a six-year program to mitigate soil liquefaction problems, evaluate seismic resistance of buildings, and improve or tear down old structures, Sun said.
As for administrative matters, premier-designate Lin hopes to begin deeper exchanges so that the new government can have a seamless handover experience. The Executive Yuan delivered presentations on each ministry's affairs to the government transition task force several days ago, and the ministries have prepared detailed materials on their operations, difficulties, and overlaps between current policies and president-elect Tsai Ing-wen's policies. Information on ongoing projects will also be conveyed to the new administrative team quickly, Sun added.
"During this transition process, Premier Chang and future premier Lin share a common goal, and that is to work together on the nation's problems and to keep government running smoothly," Sun said.
During the cordial exchange, Premier Chang expressed his respects and good wishes to his successor. He advised Lin to share information generously with the media so that the media can understand the workings of the Executive Yuan. The incoming premier accepted the kind advice and thanked Chang for his hard work in the handover process.