Chen Chien-Jen accepts full responsibility for Wu search

Taiwan's representative to the US Chen Chien-jen (程建人) said yesterday that he would take full responsibility for an incident in which first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) was forced to undergo an airport security check during her visit to the US last month.

"This incident was evidently mishandled and I am very sorry about it," Chen told reporters in Washington. "The only person I proposed to the government to be punished is myself."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) told lawmakers yesterday that the Presidential Office was not satisfied with a report submitted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US that detailed the incident and proposed a list of officials that should be punished.

"The ministry is still reviewing the case and waiting for further information from representative Chen," Chien said. "We will formally propose a name list of civil-service-level officials who should be disciplined after we've completed the review.

"But whether the political appointee should be replaced is a decision to be made by the Presidential Office," he added.

Chien denied that the incident had been made public as a result of internal political rivalry within the ministry between himself and Chen.

He said that the ministry would decide which officials to reward or punish as soon as possible but that he had come to no conclusions so far.

Wu was searched at a Washington-area airport before she left for Los Angeles on Sept. 26.

Opposition lawmakers have questioned why the incident was revealed several weeks after the first lady returned from her US trip. They suggested that the government was trying to force Chien out of his position.

"The government is trying to arrange a position for DPP Taipei City mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) because Lee has no chance of beating Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)," KMT Legislator Huang Chien-ting (黃健庭) said during a legislative interpellation session yesterday morning.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun, however, denied the rumor, saying that some politicians had too much imagination and that the public should not believe such misleading information.

DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) defended Chien, saying he should not be forced out.

"Chien has done an excellent job during past two years," he said. "I can't see any reason for the president or the premier to want to replace him."

The Presidential Office yesterday made its first comments on the incident, saying that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) approved of Representative Chen's performance and would later consider what action to take.

"The security-check incident was an accident and the US government has expressed its sincere apologies," Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (黃志芳) said. "We believe that it will not have any influence on Taiwan-US relations."