American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairwoman Therese Shaheen, one of the Bush administration's strongest supporters of Taiwan, resigned from her position Wednesday, and administration officials say US President George W. Bush personally ordered her dismissal after a long bout of policy disagreements and questions about her management abilities at the institute.
Shaheen sent a letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell, in which she said she wanted "to spend more time with her daughter," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.
"She said that with the conclusion of elections in Taiwan it was an appropriate time for her to step aside," he said. "We thank Ms. Shaheen for her services and wish her the best."
Ereli denied a report in the Washington Times that Shaheen was let go in response to a series of complaints from China over several months to both the State Department and the White House National Security Council staff.
"Those reports are false," Ereli said. "China never asked that managing director Shaheen be removed, nor would the United States in any way be responsive to such requests if they were made," he said.
Nevertheless, China has made it known that it was unhappy with Shaheen's pro-Taiwan positions.
"The Chinese were very upset" by several of her remarks, according to Bonnie Glasser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University, an expert on US-China relations who recently met with Chinese officials and scholars in Beijing.
"No doubt, China would be quite pleased to see her go," Glasser said.
Administration officials, however, speaking on condition of anonymity, tell the Taipei Times that policy disputes and other internal issues were the cause for Shaheen's resignation.
"The president has made clear on multiple occasions his desire to see her go," said one administration official.
The officials would not give specifics on the nature of the policy disagreements, but Shaheen was known to be an unusually outspoken and ardent supporter of Taiwan, in a position traditionally known for its low profile, for an administration marked by an insistence on secrecy and discipline.
Shaheen did not return a telephone call asking for comment.
It is not clear when Shaheen will be leaving AIT, but sources say that the administration wants her out of office by President Chen Shui-bian's (
A search for her successor has begun, but it is still at an "informal" stage, according to an administration official.
"Most of the focus has been on trying to seek an amicable way of doing this," he told the Taipei Times.
"It's still too early" to talk about a replacement, he said.
Administration officials have outlined a series of damaging allegations against Shaheen.
"There is a growing record that she's been unwilling to support US policy on Taiwan, both in public but in private as well, in internal deliberations making disparaging remarks about policy and about administration officials," one official said.
He also charged that Shaheen had shown poor management at AIT, where, he said, "A slew of people have left and have given their explanation that the reason is poor management."
While the situation has been brewing for some time, the final decision came after Shaheen sent written congratulations on Chen's re-election to Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office representative Chen Chien-jen (程建人) on March 20, before the White House had a chance to offer its own congratulations, while appearing in television interviews at the same time.
Shaheen was authorized to offer verbal congratulations, but forbidden to do anything more until the White House decided what to say. Her actions "were characteristic of her exceeding instructions," an administration official said.
Moreover, during the week before the election, an official said, Shaheen "threatened multiple times to resign" over what he described as a dispute "over her role" and her frustration at "not being able to travel when she wanted to, and things that were highly personal."
Last year, Shaheen reportedly annoyed senior administration officials with a series of public statements. In one instance, during President Chen's transit visit to New York last October, Shaheen said that Bush was the "guardian angel" of Chen's transit, a remark widely reported as meaning that Bush was Chen's guardian angel.
At about the same time she called Taiwan's bickering about whether or not to buy diesel submarines "silly," a remark interpreted by some as saying the purchase of the subs would be silly. Those remarks were considered by the administration as "a part of a longer term record of inability to perform her duties," an official said.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (
Shaheen's resignation was an internal US affair, and people in Taiwan should not make too much speculation on the move, Kau added.
Ministry spokesman Richard Shih (
Shaheen once said she wished to attend President Chen's inauguration ceremony on May 20. Shih said the ministry would follow its standard procedures to invite foreign officials to the ceremony but did not confirm whether Shaheen would be on the list.
Additional reporting by Melody Chen
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