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Chang Jung-feng defends decision to re-enter academia

By Lin Chieh-yu
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jun 02, 2003, Page 3

Chang Jung-feng, who resigned from his post as the deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council at the end of last month. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Taipei Times: There are rumors that your resignation was the result of your frustration toward the job. What would you say to that?

Chang Jung-feng (張榮豐): I first submitted my resignation and expressed my intention to return to the world of academia last August, but was asked [by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)] to stay. I have worked for the national security system for 13 years and I really feel tired, so I really hoped that I could change the position and refresh myself.

After talking to President Chen on May 26th, the president agreed to my resignation. I will return to the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research on June 16th and continue to offer my service to the country and the government. The NSC is limited in resources, manpower, and budget. The private academic institution may take the responsibility to do earlier government research work and its research results may also be provided for reference for the NSC.

TT: What are your short- and long-term plans after returning to the research institute?

Chang: Basically, my personality is neither aggressive nor heroic. I think highly of teamwork and believe the success of a mission depends on whether the entire system can operate smoothly. I believe that one person's strength never exceeds that of an organization, so I need to work with the institute and then figure out plans. I hope I can share my experience with the private sector and help it make judgments and deal with hardships.

TT: Some members at the NSC have shown disagreement with the new NSC Secretary-General Kang Ning-hsian's (康寧祥) style of leadership, and some have even implied that Kang's leadership is a major reason you left. What would you say to that?

Chang: Kang and I have been friends for over two decades. These speculations are groundless, and I would not make any comments on them. But a majority of advisory members [of the council] indeed have expressed disagreement with Kang's style of leadership.

The NSC has five advisory members and three deputy secretary-generals who take care of different fields. Unless they are assigned to work together on the same mission, they usually do not interfere with one another.

After Kang took office, he gave every member of the NSC many new instructions. However, his aides did not have the ability and experience to carry out the instructions, so it did not work well.

TT: Will this affect the stability of the NSC?

Chang: I've always said that the national security system should always look ahead. Its "sense of timing" should be at least half a year ahead of that of the general public. We need to prepare and analyze every variable and address the problems in advance. The national security system should be a pre-emptive organization. But it now looks as if it has lost that function and become a crisis management one.

I think Kang's leadership style is not a problem. But I suggest President Chen take the oppotunity to discuss the reform and readjustment of the system. In the mean time, some have tried to use my resignation to initiate a "political struggle" campaign by spreading rumors to attack their targets, which is normal in polictics. That does not mean the operation of the NSC has serious problem.

TT: What projects have been the most worthwhile to you during your 13 years as a national security official?

Chang: It is still too early to speak of the history. I have to reiterate that all the top projects are the result of teamwork. For example, during the 1996 [presidential election], I was in charge of the missile crisis triggered by China.

The NSC successfully made a favorable campaign of the crisis by using China's missile threat to shape an united domestic consensus that helped [former president] Lee [Teng-hui (李登輝)] win a second term. In addition, by establishing several international security cooperation networks, we managed to give Taiwan more visibility in the international community.

TT: Could you draw a comparison of the leadership between Lee and Chen?

Chang: Lee and Chen are leaders of different generations. They are in different environments of time and space and their personalities are also different. So, any comparison would be irrelevant.

But I may cite something that has been said by some political observers who generally believe Lee's political operation was more based on long-term strategy and he paid attention to the change of "power domain," while Chen and his aides tend to give priority to "the media or the public opinion presented by the media," which aims more at short-term effectiveness. I appreciate both presidents for giving me respect and allowing me to stick to my own style over the past 13 years.

This is something one should be proud of, especially when one stays in the core of power.
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