Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said he could not think of anyone else better than Hu Wei-jen to succeed Su.
The DPP was unimpressed however, saying Su’s resignation had come too late and that the ability of his replacement remained questionable.
“Su should have resigned much earlier because his inept handling of the US beef import protocol has cost our country dearly,” said Liu Chien-hsin (劉建忻), deputy head of the DPP’s policy research and coordination department.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), member of the legislative Foreign and National Defense Committee, said the reshuffle showed that Ma’s confidant KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) was flexing his muscles to get rid of people he does not get along with.
“Su’s sudden resignation has King’s fingerprints all over it. It reflects the instability of the party and the fact that King is calling the shots from behind closed doors,” Tsai said.
Tsai said Hu’s strength is in diplomacy, but he lacks sufficient experience in dealing with military and cross-strait affairs — the two major tasks of the National Security Council.
“Hu’s strength will be completely overlooked because Ma has already declared a diplomatic truce. It is obvious that Hu is merely a filler,” Tsai said.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said Hu’s lack of experience in military and cross-strait affairs made him under-qualified to be a major policy maker, but he was most likely chosen because of his “unwavering obedience” to Ma’s instructions.
Soochow University professor Luo Chih-cheng (羅致政) shared Kuan’s view, saying that Hu was just another “yes-man” and was unlikely to have any political sway in the Ma administration’s overall direction.
In December, Su had said that his agency had recommended lifting a previous ban on the import of US bone-in beef, beef organs and ground beef. The shift in policy triggered widespread criticism and public health concerns about mad cow disease.
The Legislative Yuan later ignored an agreement the government signed with the US lifting the ban and amended the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) to continue the ban on beef organs and ground beef, a move that caused dismay in Washington.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA AND STAFF WRITER
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