Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had been misled by his advisors into believing China would accept his appointed envoy, Li Yuan-zu (李元簇), as his stand-in at the APEC leaders' summit .
"We made a misjudgment on the hypothesis that China would have demanded no slip-ups in hosting this year's international conference [and would therefore accept Taiwan's representative]," Lu was quoted as saying during an interview with the Open Weekly published yesterday.
Lu said that the Presidential Office had also miscalculated the negative impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the international political climate.
The vice president suggested that the government delayed its decision on representation too long, and failed to communicate with the US early enough. This, in turn, made it impossible for the US to help Taiwan negotiate on the matter.
Lu added that the president made a last-minute call to Taiwan-born Oregon Congressman David Wu (吳振偉), but that it was too late.
In response to Lu's remarks, the Presidential Office issued a statement yesterday arguing that "it had carefully evaluated all possible outcomes of Taiwan's participation at the international forum months earlier," adding that "there's was in no way a miscalculation of our prospects at the event."
The statement, however, did not single out Lu's comments but lambasted China's refusal to issue a formal invitation to Taiwan's envoy, saying China had violated APEC's standard procedures and neglected the host country's obligations.
The statement went on to obliquely warn the international community, "who have not fully recognized China's obvious intention to downgrade Taiwan as a local government and to isolate Taiwan in the international community."
In her interview, Lu, moreover, pointed the finger of blame at the performance of Taiwan's APEC delegates, saying that Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (
"It was a pity that Lin and Chen were not fully prepared for the meeting. One got too nervous and the other was too gentle. Both lacked combat capacity," Lu said during the interview. But she also praised Lin's good manners in contrast to China's rudeness.
Lu was referring to the fact that Lin was rudely silenced by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (
In spite of Lu's criticism, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) at the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning, is said to approved of Lin and Chen's performance.
After relating the premier's comments, government spokesman Su Tzen-ping (
The presidential press release also said that Lin and Chen had both done well. It added that "although the outcome may not be encouraging, [they] should not be vulnerable to criticism."
Lu, in addition, complained that her vice presidency has been sullied by behind-the-scenes scheming, saying that "she was grieved by the fact that power could make people so crazy and lost." She also likened her approximately 500 days at the Presidential Office to "serving in a soul prison."
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