Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) is to be appointed President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) chief adviser on national security affairs, a Presidential Office source said yesterday.
King is to take over the post of secretary-general of the National Security Council from Jason Yuan (袁健生), who is to be named a senior adviser to the president, the source said on condition of anonymity.
A “senior diplomat” will be appointed to fill the post of the nation’s representative to Washington, the source said, without giving a name.
Photo:CNA
The new appointments are part of the government’s efforts to promote regional peace and prosperity, and cope with new challenges in trade and economic relations with the US, cross-strait developments and changes in the national defense system, the source said.
In his new position, King will help the government improve its security cooperation with the US and push for Taiwan’s bid to join regional trade blocs, mainly the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership and ASEAN’s Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the source said.
The connections that King has built in Washington during his posting will be very helpful to these efforts, the source said.
King replaced Yuan as head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US in December 2012.
King’s good political judgement and deep understanding of Taiwan’s situation can contribute to the government’s efforts to promote cross-strait ties, which have entered a new phase since the two sides began engaging in government-to-government exchanges, the source added.
Commenting on King’s new appointment, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Chang Tun-han (張惇涵) yesterday said the Ma administration places little value on maintaining good Taiwan-US relations.
King lacks experience in handling cross-strait and national defense matters, and his transfer is not in the best interests of the nation, Chang said.
DPP Policy Research Committee executive director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said that King lacks the personal and professional experience to become the head of the National Security Council, a vital government unit tasked with overseeing cross-strait matters and foreign diplomacy.
Wu also questioned the timing of his transfer, with many suspecting it to be a ploy to manipulate the local elections in November.
The 57-year-old King, widely considered to be Ma’s closest aide, served as Taipei deputy mayor from 2004 to 2006, when Ma was mayor.
A year after he was elected president in 2008, Ma, who doubles as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, appointed King as party secretary-general.
During the 2012 presidential election, King helped Ma with his re-election bid, serving as executive director of the president’s campaign office.
With a doctorate in journalism from the University of Texas in Austin, King has also taught at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In other news, the Executive Yuan yesterday said that Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) had approved the resignation of Cabinet spokeswoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) and appointed Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群), vice chairman of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), to take her place.
At the FTC, Sun succeeded in establishing a sound communication system between the administrative arm of the government and the media, the Cabinet said.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS