Katharine Chang (
"I'm always afraid to be in the lead," said a smiling Chang, dressed in a dark-blue suit and sophisticated set of pearl earrings and necklace.
The 48-year-old woman has outshone her female counterparts in Taiwan's diplomatic circles since she joined the foreign service in 1976.
In January 1995, Chang became Taiwan's first female representative when she was assigned to head the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle.
In late 1997, she became Taiwan's first female ambassador when she took up the post as Taiwan's ambassador to St Kitts and Nevis and the Commonwealth of Dominica.
Chang admitted that women had some "constraints" in working as diplomats as they also had to shoulder their responsibilities as wives and mothers.
But the seasoned female diplomat said those women who were interested in joining the foreign service should shake off the expectations of society and give pursuing the path of a professional diplomat a go.
"One should live for oneself instead of living under others' expectations," Chang said.
"I don't have any children so I have relatively few obligations. And my husband has been very supportive of my job," Chang said.
When asked if she worried about the fact that her husband had stayed in Taiwan when she was posted in the West Indies, Chang's answer was firm: "I am indeed at ease as we've been married for over 20 years."
Taiwan's foreign ministry for a number of years used a quota to govern the recruitment of female diplomats, and it was not until 1996 that it was cancelled. Over the years, some women in the foreign ministry have given up their careers as diplomats because of their perceived responsibilities as wives and mothers.
Chang takes over the post of director general of the ministry's Department of Information and Cultural Affairs from Henry Chen (
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS