Frank Hsieh will lead a cabinet of reconciliation, says president
Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh Chang-ting yesterday was appointed premier of Taiwan, to head a new cabinet that President Chen Shui-bian says will seek reconciliation with the opposition and the mainland.
'The next cabinet will be the cabinet of consultations, the cabinet of dialogue and the cabinet of stability,' Mr Chen said, adding there was a need for reconciliation with the opposition and the mainland if Taiwan was to achieve stability.
Mr Chen has sought to mend fences with the opposition and the mainland since an election setback last month, when his party failed to win a majority in the legislature.
He described Mr Hsieh as a person capable of working with the opposition, saying the 58-year-old mayor of the southern Taiwanese city was flexible enough to take up the post.
Mr Hsieh, who has been relatively moderate in dealing with the mainland and the opposition, said he would do all he could to ensure stability on the island. He was chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party before Mr Chen assumed the post.
'I am confident that a cabinet of stability can be formed, under the premise of mutual existence and reconciliation, with negotiations and dialogue as the basis,' he said after accepting his new appointment.
