Presidential Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who has entered the race for the Demo-cratic Progressive Party's (DPP) vacant chairmanship, yesterday announced he would invite the director-general of the Cabinet's Central Personnel Administra-tion, Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), to be the party's secretary-general should he (Su) be elected as the party chairman.
Given that Su is the only candidate in the party contending for the chairmanship, he is certain to be elected as new chairman at the election slated to be held on Jan. 30.
Su yesterday said he had already reported to President Chen Shui-bian (
Lee had formerly served as Taipei City councilor, director of the Taipei City Government's Department of Civil Affairs, deputy minister of the Ministry of the Interior and director of the DPP's Information and Culture Department.
In the case known as the "Formosa magazine (蓬島雜誌) incident," Lee, then editor-in-chief of the publication, served prison time with Chen, who was the then director of the magazine, for "political crimes."
Noting Lee's extensive administrative experience in both government and party affairs, Su commended Lee as "a talent well-fitted for the role of the party's secretary-general."
"Although I have not worked with Lee in the past, I have, however, on many occasions and events met him before and I admire his performance in his fields of expertise," Su said, adding that the president also held Lee in high regard.
Lee was the first person to report to Chen after he failed in his re-election bid in the 1998 Taipei Mayoral election and was also one of those who helped Chen set up his campaign office for his 2000 presidential election bid, Su said. He added that Lee, having experience working with Chen for many years, is well-trusted by the president.
Lee yesterday confirmed he had accepted Su's invitation to be the DPP's secretary-general.
Noting that he had long been involved in politics, Lee said he would assist Su in developing the DPP once he assumed his new position in the party.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
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