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Taipei in talks with US on future representative

Taiwan is consulting Washington on the appointment of its next representative to the US, Taipei's deputy representative to the US Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷) said on Friday.

Tung said he expected the US government’s response would come soon, adding that the name of the candidate would not be made public until all the procedures are completed.

Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), the incumbent representative to the US and a non-career diplomat who was appointed to the post by the former Democratic Progressive Party administration, tendered his resignation on May 20 upon the inauguration of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.

The vacancy would reportedly be filled by Jason Yuan (袁健生), who has served as the KMT’s and the People First Party’s (PFP) representative to the US since 2004. Yuan formerly served as director-general of Taiwan’s Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Los Angeles.

Chang Ta-tung (張大同), the KMT and PFP’s deputy representative to the US, would allegedly be appointed deputy representative. Chang was formerly chief of the Congressional Liaison Division at the TECRO office in the US.

In related news, TECRO in Washington held a Starlight Film Screening on the main lawn of the Twin Oaks estate on Friday night to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the former residence of Republic of China ambassadors.

More than 200 people attended the screening of Fishing Luck, a story of a young woman from Taipei and an indigenous Tao youth from Orchid Island (蘭嶼). The film was directed by Golden Horse-award-winning Taiwanese director Tseng Wen-chen (曾文珍).

The second night of the outdoor film screening, scheduled for yesterday, was to feature the film Chocolate Rap by noted Taiwanese director Chi Y. Lee.

Among those in attendance at the screening on Friday were Wu, Taiwanese students studying in the area and other young overseas Taiwanese.

Bi Tzu-an (畢祖安), secretary of TECRO’s Cultural Division, said that many young Taiwanese jumped at the opportunity upon hearing about the screening, with one group driving more than four hours from West Virginia to attend.

Several Americans in attendance praised the event as a creative approach to cultural exchange and said they hoped similar events would be held in future.
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