"Newsmaker-1": Overseas legislator under the gun

A well-known scholar-turned-politician, the DPP's 65-year-old Overseas Legislator Parris Chang (張旭成) has made headlines recently following allegations of an affair with his former aide, Betty Wong (汪鳳英). This latest controversy will likely add to the scandal-tainted reputation of one of Taiwan's most formidable lawmakers.

"He's an opportunist with an inconsistent political stance," said Linda Arrigo, a veteran human rights activist and ex-wife of former DPP Chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德).

Arrigo said that Chang has been straddling the fence between the DPP and the KMT in a bid to enhance his own political power.

Some DPP members, nevertheless, gave Chang their approval, saying that "it can't be denied that Chang's expertise on foreign and military affairs has made a contribution to the party."

Born in Chiayi County (嘉義縣) in 1936, Chang once said that his political enlightenment started very early in life, when his father served as a county councilor. Chang said he would sit on his father's lap while he was talking about politics and would listen intently to the conversations.

At the age of 11, Chang had a chance to meet his political role model Wu San-lien (吳三連), who was then soliciting votes in Tainan for the 1947 National Assembly elections, and was much impressed by Wu's political outspokenness.

Chang honed his interest in politics and decided to major in political science when he studied at National Taiwan University.

As a college freshman, Chang, along with his classmate -- former minister of foreign affairs Frederick Chien (錢復) -- passed an examination that would pave his way as a prospective diplomat. However, he skipped the training sessions and ever since has devoted himself to academic studies.

After having received his M.A. from the University of Washington in 1963 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1969, Chang became a professor of political science and taught at Pennsylvania State University in 1970.

"Chang specialized in international relations and China studies, which was quite unique for Taiwanese students at that time," senior advisor to the president Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) said.

Because of Chang's academic background, he was invited to China in 1972 and held a five-hour debate with the then-Chinese premier Chou Enlai (周恩來). At that meeting, Chang defiantly proposed building Taiwan into a neutral state -- he called it an "Eastern Switzerland (東方的瑞士)" -- following his "Singapore Model (新加坡模式)" theory of 1979.

Chang's "Singapore Model" suggested that Taiwan should develop and maintain a reciprocal relationship with China as Singapore has done with Malaysia.

"His `Singapore Model' successfully made an ideological breakthrough and promoted the ideal of Taiwan independence, which was quite an accomplishment," Yao said.

But to many advocates of Taiwan independence in the US -- who stayed there fearing persecution at home -- Chang seemed to be "too careful" and cowardly to make his political ideals clear, Arrigo said.

"Some overseas Taiwanese-Americans were suspicious of Chang's political stance and found it quite hard to identify with him," said a DPP official who used to work in the party's mission to the US, on condition of anonymity.

Despite that, Chang continued to achieve notoriety by writing scores of articles which established his academic reputation and expanded his connections in American diplomatic and political circles.