PFP Legislator Kao Ming-chien (
"I was framed by the DPP administration for things that I didn't do concerning my attendance at the Global Conference on SARS in Malaysia," Kao said hours after returning yesterday afternoon.
During the two-day conference, the Chinese delegation at first said that Beijing had recommend that the World Health Organization (WHO) invite Kao to the conference. The following day Kao protested that he was not part of the Chinese delegation.
The government said that because Kao had not taken part in fighting the epidemic, it had not recommended him to attend the conference.
Kao yesterday insisted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) delivered his invitation.
"My office learned about the invitation on June 12 from a MOFA staff member surnamed Wang. Wang called and said that the WHO had invited me to the conference. She also mentioned something about pre-departure orientation, which was canceled by the ministry the next day," Kao said.
Kao, a former neurosurgeon, said he had warned the Executive Yuan, the Department of Health and MOFA that the invitation indicated Taiwan was a province of China.
"My advice was that the government should try to be called Chinese Taipei, which Taiwan has been called in previous global meetings, at the SARS discussion," Kao said.
"The Executive Yuan hosted a pre-departure orientation on Saturday without informing me," he said.
Commenting on the controversy about his presence at the SARS conference, Kao said the only mistake he made was to trust the DPP government and MOFA.
"There was no official representative to the global meeting since it was an academic discussion. The DPP leveled a groundless accusation at me," he told reporters.
Speaking in Taiwanese, Kao said that his presence in Kuala Lumpur gave Taiwan a chance to tell the world about what the country had done in the fight against SARS.
"During the meeting, I was able to represent the country and introduce my country's deeds in combating the illness to international colleagues, such as the health minister of Malaysia," Kao said.
The PFP lawmaker vowed that he would keep trying to improve the lives of people living across Taiwan Strait.
Kao left Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday at the behest of PFP Chairman James Soong (
Before Kao's arrival, a group of PFP lawmakers presented a request to members of Control Yuan to investigate the Executive Yuan, MOFA and the health department for possible administrative errors.
The PFP said the Executive Yuan and foreign ministry must be responsible for faulty planning.
The health department should be disciplined for questioning Kao's legitimacy in representing Taiwan at the conference without checking first, the PFP lawmakers said.
In the legislature, some DPP lawmakers asked the Discipline Committee to punish Kao.
Kao's behavior violated the Statute Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), Legislators' Conduct Act (立法委員行為法) and maybe even the Criminal Code, DPP Legislator Chien Chao-tong (簡肇棟) said.
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