Ko Yu-chin (
When asked to respond to Ko's comment, Loh said: "I am simply not tactful enough in dealing with others."
"I am not at the same level as those who have a problem with me. I am above that," Loh said.
Lee said others "misunderstood" Loh in this regard. He said Loh perhaps "raised his voice" in some meetings with foreign ministry officials, claiming some reports might "exaggerate" the actual situation at these meetings.
Others, however, singled out the longstanding dissonance between Loh and the foreign ministry over foreign aid operations as the main cause of his resignation.
"The relations between Loh and the foreign ministry have not been very congenial," said Fan Yang-shang (范揚盛), Convener of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Legislative Yuan, based on his observations on related meetings on foreign-aid programs.
Lee denounced the media's portrait of the "conflict" between Loh and the foreign ministry, saying: "This is not a conflict. It's a question of ideas and methodology."
While the ICDF's golden rule is that each non-confidential foreign aid operation must follow the "project cycle" that includes five-phased procedures such as identification, preparation, negotiation, implementation and evaluation, the foreign ministry sometimes thinks otherwise, Lee said.
"Taiwan's foreign ministry is different from other international institutions. It shoulders an enormous burden to sustain diplomatic ties with its limited allies. So, in times of urgency, the ICDF is forced to skip these procedures," admitted Lee.
Even when some of these procedures were followed, the foreign ministry did not necessarily follow the recommendations made by the ICDF's feasibility studies.
For instance, when the ICDF concluded after a feasibility study of the Skopje Free Economic Zone that Taiwan should not implement the project because the idea "would enjoy no market," the ministry still went ahead with the scheme as part of its effort to sustain ties with Macedonia.
The veteran diplomat said that, although some foreign ministry officials agreed with Loh in conducting feasibility studies before foreign aid programs are implemented, the reality of Taiwan's limited international space may at times make this professional practice a luxury.
Even so, the veteran development expert plans to be on the move soon after his retirement, saying: "Some of my friends in Latin America have already invited me to work as their personal advisor."
RSS