Foreign ministry's new spokesman relishing his role

New spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs David Wang (王建業) took up his new position yesterday, saying that he would perform to the best of his abilities and not let his personal opinions get in the way when speaking for the ministry.

After serving as the ministry's spokesman for just over two years, Michel Lu (呂慶龍) is being promoted to Secretary-General of the ministry and will be handing over his duties to Wang, who previously worked as the deputy director of the department of Information and Cultural Affairs. Wang will also become the department director.

The ministry held the handing-over ceremony yesterday morning with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Katherine Chang (張小月) presiding. Chang encouraged Wang to find a subtle balance in relations between the government and the media. Chang also once served as ministry spokeswoman.

"We always remind our officials who deal with the press of an old saying: `If you can't beat them, join them'" Chang said.

Lu also shared his experiences with Wang, saying that serving as the ministry's spokesman was a "dangerous job," since the press would sometimes misquote or misunderstand the statements the spokesman made.

"Therefore, active communication and full patience were required when serving as a spokesperson -- especially as Taiwan holds such a unique diplomatic situation in the international community," Lu said.

"I will speak for the ministry based on facts and definite sources and will not include my personal opinions," Wang said yesterday during the ceremony. "It is a significant task and I will go all out to do my job well."