Newsmakers: Incoming foreign minister Chien has a checkered past

When Deputy Secretary-General to the President Eugene Chien (簡又新) was designated as Minister of Foreign Affairs, many said the 55-year-old Chien has now accomplished his long-cherished goal to become foreign minister.

"It's no secret that Chien has longed for the post," said an old friend of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), whose family has close ties with Chien.

It's Chien's desire to lead the foreign ministry and the trust he won from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) -- as well as longstanding support from Lee -- that made Chien ideal to replace incumbent minister Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂), sources said.

"He developed good relations with A-bian and Lu. He also had good ties with former president Lee. He presented himself as an energetic and competent aide, and this able and vigorous image of Chien's contrasted with that of Tien," an insider at the Presidential Office said.

During the past 18 months, Chien was in charge of diplomatic affairs for Chen and Lu and has accompanied his superiors to visit many of Taiwan's diplomatic allies.

Although Tien has ranging support at the foreign ministry, some in the DPP administration criticized him for what they saw as tardy reform measures orchestrated by Tien, sources said.

Chien, however, has yet to garner support from the civil servants at the foreign ministry, sources said.

"Every time we heard rumors that Chien was to lead the foreign ministry, there would be misgivings among us," commented a foreign ministry official, who refused to be named.

"The diplomats at the foreign ministry do not really support Chien. They ... edged him out because they didn't consider his performance in London to be good," the insider said.

Chien served as Taipei's top representative to London from 1993 to 1998 after stepping down from his post as minister of transportation and communications in 1993 -- amid his alleged involvement in a scandal surrounding a project for the expansion of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway.

Chien was nearly awarded the post of foreign minister in August of 1997, when he was ordered by Lee to return from London to prepare to head the ministry.

But Lee changed his mind and nominated Jason Hu (胡志強) at the last minute after learning of the distrust the foreign ministry had for Chien, sources said.

"Because of the scandal, even the DPP as the opposition party frowned upon him, and the New Party saw him as an enemy," commented one government source.

But Chien's supporters have voiced their trust in him.

Recalling Chien's work in London, Chien's wife Wang Kuei-jung (王圭容) said he was able to invite former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to attend Taiwan's national day celebration in London "at least four times."

The vice president lauded Chien last Saturday, saying: "Chien used to work for the previous administration and is a man with sound credentials."

Chien is indeed a man with sound credentials, brought up in a well-bred circle.

Born in 1946, Chien is the descendent of a family in Taoyuan County's Tashi township, which rose to prominence during the Japanese Colonial Era.

According to a book entitled The President's Relatives (總統的親戚) written by senior journalist Chen Jou-chin (陳柔縉), Chien's father Chien Chien-hsung (簡建勳) joined the profitable Taiwan Sugar Corporation after his graduation from Taihoku (Taipei) Imperial University (台北帝國大學), the predecessor of National Taiwan University.