The lineup of the new cabinet was approved by the Central Standing Committee of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) on January 27, 1999. All previous ministers have been held over except for the ministers of defense and justice; the chairmen of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Veterans Affairs Commission (VAC), and the Public Construction Commission (which is not a cabinet-level agency but whose chairman must be concurrently a minister without portfolio); the cabinet secretary-general; and one minister without portfolio.

The changes include: General Tang Fei moving from chief of the general staff to Minister of Defense; Yeh Chin-fong moving from KMT vice-secretary-general to Minsiter of Justice; Su Chi moving from assistant secretary to the president to MAC chairman; Lee Chen-lin moving from head of the Armed Forces University to VAC chairman; incumbent Minister without Portfolio Tsay Jaw-yang concurrently becoming PCC chair; presidential advisor Hsieh Shen-san becoming cabinet secretary-general; and former provincial vice-governor Wu Rong-ming filling a vacant minister without portfolio spot.

Also, on January 25 the National Assembly approved the nominations of Weng Yueh-sheng and Cheng Chung-mo to be president and vice-president, respectively, of the Judicial Yuan; of Hwang Yueh-chin and two others to be Grand Justices; and of three members of the Examination Yuan. Even earlier, the National Assembly had confirmed the 27 members, president (Frederick Chien), and vice-president (Chen Meng-ling) of the Control Yuan.

Because the personnel changes were conducted quickly and smoothly, they did not attract as much pre-appointment speculation in the media as in the past. However, there was considerable attention devoted to the question of whether or not Premier Vincent Siew's cabinet was constitutionally required to resign. In fact, the constitution, much revised in recent years, contains no clear stipulation that the cabinet must resign when the term of the legislature that originally approved it expires. Nonetheless, Premier Siew, in order to show his respect for the powers of the Legislative Yuan and the President (the latter being the one who nominates the premier), handed in the resignation of his cabinet on January 21. President Lee then reappointed Siew, who has a public approval rating of 59.6%.

One point of particular interest is that State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Ren-fa turned down an offer to be Minister of Justice, so KMT vice-secretary-general Yeh Chin-fong had to step into the post. She thus becomes the first woman in that job in ROC history. Yeh, having been Minister of the Interior, a Supreme Court justice, vice-chairman of the MAC, and vice-director of President Lee's election campaign, is very close to top officials.

According to public opinion polls, though 57.6% say they are "satisfied" with the cabinet's performance over the past year, people want to see improvement and reform in the areas of social order and economic development. Huang Fu-yuan, director of the institute of crime prevention at the Central Police University, says that police reforms introduced under Premier Siew, such as psychological profiling, have greatly improved police performance. But few members of the public know about these things, so, Huang says, the premier must strengthen communication with the public, especially in "marketing and packaging," so that the government's implementation of its policies will proceed more smoothly.