The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) has seen a series of recent reshuffles, ranging from its No. 2 and No. 3 figures to the latest being a change at the American Cultural Center, sources said yesterday.
The AIT threw a party at the American Cultural Center last night for the center's outgoing chief Robert Howes and his replacement R. Andrew Dickson III.
In fluent Chinese, Howes expressed his gratitude to a roomful of guests for their support during his four years in Taiwan, while Dickson expressed excitement about his new post.
Howes thanked Joseph Donovan, the AIT political section chief, for having helped him grasp Taiwan's political landscape.
Donovan, who was at the party, told the Taipei Times that he's slated to return to Washington on Tuesday to take up his new post as the director of the office of the Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands at the US Department of State.
Melvin Ang (吳錫麟), Donovan's deputy, has been promoted to take up the post as the No. 3 figure at the AIT, sources said.
David Keegan is to succeed Pamela Slutz as the AIT deputy director. Slutz has left for Washington before she takes up her new post as the US ambassador to Mongolia.
Keegan, a historian trained at Columbia University, worked in the office of Taiwan coordination, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the US Department of State.
Although the press was waiting to talk to AIT Director Douglas Paal last night to get his comment on the debate over Taiwan's plan to hold referendums, he was absent from the party.
Some interpreted Paal's last-minute decision not to attend the party as an attempt to avoid the media after a recent row regarding the US position on referendums.
Paal, in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) on Wednesday, said he has never said that the US opposes Taiwan's plan to hold referendums.
Paal said the so-called "storm of US opposition" to referendums was solely created by the local media, which, he said, fail to check facts or verify claims before publishing their reports.
Paal also told the CNA that neither the AIT nor the Presidential Office has ever leaked confidential information to the press on the sensitive issue.
Meanwhile, Dickson is to take up his duties as Cultural Officer of the Public Affairs Section of AIT and the director of the American Cultural Center next month.
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