The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebutted a media report that its head, Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), had offered to resign on three occasions in the past week.
MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said that Ou’s willingness to shoulder full responsibility for the ministry’s initial controversial refusal of foreign aid in the wake of Typhoon Morakot did not mean he wanted to resign.
The news of Ou’s alleged resignation sparked bipartisan support for the ministry, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) saying it was merely a scapegoat for the National Security Council (NSC), which should be held responsible for MOFA’s initial refusal of foreign assistance.
The Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday that Ou had expressed a willingness to take responsibility for the MOFA-issued cable — which has been blamed for delaying foreign assistance — during a meeting with Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) last Thursday, and again during two meetings with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last Friday and on Monday, though he never used the word “resignation.”
The cable was issued on Aug. 11 to all Taiwanese embassies and representative offices abroad, asking them to decline foreign assistance except for monetary donations. Ou was away on business in Europe at the time, leaving Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Hsia (夏立言) in charge.
Hsia has since apologized for the cable, saying it should have read that Taiwan was “temporarily” declining offers of help, and tendered his resignation.
The resignation letter was forwarded to the premier’s office for approval, but was soon returned to Ou’s office, with instructions that the minister should handle the matter himself.
Because Ou did not have the heart to sign Hsia’s letter of resignation, he told Ma and Liu during their meetings that he would take responsibility for being unable to approve Hsia’s resignation and would instead be happy to accept any arrangements made by his superiors, Chen said.
Chen also rejected news reports that Ou had argued that the ministry was only acting under the instruction of the NSC, and that it was the council that did not see the urgency of accepting immediate foreign help.
“There is absolutely no truth to that story. Neither the Presidential Office nor the Executive Yuan had any knowledge of the cable,” Chen said.
Speaking to the media, Ou said the blunder was a communication problem and blamed himself for not being in Taiwan during that time.
RESPONSIBILITY
DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said that as the ministry was acting under the instruction of NSC Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) and Ma, Ou should not be punished for following orders.
The NSC and the Presidential Office should be held accountable for delaying foreign assistance, Cheng said.
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee praised Ou’s willingness to step down.
“I think MOFA was made a scapegoat. It was wronged,” Lin said.
“Whether the nation needed foreign aid was an issue involving cross-strait relations, diplomacy and even national defense,” Lin said.
Of course the NSC secretary-general [Su Chi, 蘇起] should have given the order [to MOFA]. It was irresponsible [of Su] to ask Hsia to consult the Homeland Security Office [regarding the matter],” Lin said.
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