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MOFA defends Jason Hu's trip to Marshall Islands

Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was the best candidate to visit the Marshall Islands on behalf of the government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said yesterday after the pan-green camp called Hu the “runaway mayor” for being away when the city was struck by Typhoon Fung-wong last week.

Chen said Hu was the foreign minister when Taiwan and the Marshall Islands established diplomatic relations in 1998 and many residents of the Pacific island country have a strong affection and deep gratitude for Hu.

“The ministry should thank him for cementing bilateral ties between the two countries,” Chen said.

Chen said Hu had been invited by Marshallese Foreign Minister Tony deBrun to preside over a donation handover ceremony.

Hu has also come under fire over a trip to Switzerland at the end of April, with critics saying that he went there on holiday and not official business.

Deputy Mayor of Taichung, Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家旗) said in Hu’s defense that he went to Switzerland to meet with the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) to seek the right to host the 13th Youth World Baseball Championship (YWBC) and to meet with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to lobby on having baseball re-instated as an official Olympic sport.

However, some of Hu’s critics who are familiar with such matters, said the IOC headquarters deals with basic administrative matters and not issues such as lobbying and that Hu did not need to go to Switzerland because Taiwan’s IOC member Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國) has an office in Taipei.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHIANG CHING-YA
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