He isn't sexy, particularly witty or well-dressed, and he may not be all that well versed in the latest political gossip. But there's something about David Lee (李大維), Taiwan's top representative in Canada, who is raising eyebrows in Ottawa's diplomatic circles within just four months of him assuming Taiwan's top quasi-diplomatic post there.
A survey by Embassy, a popular newsweekly on Canada's foreign policy, yesterday ranked Lee as third in its "Ambassador with the Most Influence" category, behind the US and British ambassadors to Canada, even though Lee technically isn't an ambassador.
And while Lee didn't rank at all in such categories as "Ambassador with the Best Hair" or "Sexiest Male Ambassador," among others, he did take first place for "Ambassador with the Best Business Lunches."
Powerbrokers in Ottawa, it seems, go gaga for lunch with Dave.
"I have been in the [diplomatic] business for over a quarter of a century. For me, I always do my homework," Lee was quoted as saying by Embassy after being told that he's all aces when it comes to hosting power lunches.
Lee became the top representative to Canada in April after Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), previously chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, replaced Lee as top representative to the US as part of a diplomatic personnel shuffle.
Known for being a suave diplomat, Lee has turned heads in Ottawa by exercising "ambassadorial" influence on a par with top official foreign statesman, including US and British Ambassadors to Canada, David Wilkins and Anthony Cary, who won first and second places, respectively, in the "Ambassador with the Most Influence" category.
As Canada does not officially recognize Taiwan, the nation's missions in Canada are mere "trade and cultural exchange" offices.
The survey is based on 54 responses from 125 foreign missions in Ottawa, members of parliament and other politicians, as well as academics, journalists and think tanks there, an Embassy report said.
"Not withstanding the fact that Taiwan is a tiny island, whose office in Ottawa isn't in fact an embassy proper, its representative, David Lee, was voted as the ambassador who throws some of the best business lunches, according to those polled in the survey," it said.
Chinese diplomats and their missions in Canada didn't rank in any of the 35 categories in yesterday's survey.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater