Thu, Dec 24, 2009 page3

• CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Jason Hu’s image juggles a lack of transparency

  • By Mo Yan-Chih / STAFF REPORTER, IN TAICHUNG
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  The government’s failure to be open and transparent with the itinerary of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) during his five-day visit has irritated local and foreign reporters.

  The fourth round of cross-strait negotiations started in Taichung City on Monday.

  The Mainland Affairs Council said it would make a last-minute announcement on Chen’s daily schedule, claiming it had to discuss things with ARATS representatives before finalizing Chen’s schedule.

  After President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Monday morning asked government authorities to make public most of the Chinese delegation’s itinerary, the council held a press conference to announce Chen’s daily itinerary and posted the information on its Web site.

  However, the Taichung City Government did not make public the itinerary for Chen’s tour of the city on Monday afternoon.

  Insisting on keeping Chen’s itinerary a secret, the city government divided reporters covering the event into two groups and arranged six shuttle buses to transport them — no one knew where — to certain locations.

  “We were on a journey to nowhere and I felt like I was being kidnapped by the Taichung City Government,” one reporter told the Taipei Times.

  Asked about the destination, both the bus driver and the Government Information Office (GIO) official on the bus said they did not know where they were going either.

  “I was told to follow the bus ahead of me,” the driver said.

  The first group of reporters was later taken to Chen’s first destination, a luxury apartment complex at an urban planning area in the city, while the second group was supposed to be taken to a local temple Chen was to visit later.

  However, all the reporters were transported to a hotel, where Hu invited Chen to view municipal developments from the top of the 46-story building.

  A newspaper reporter surnamed Wang criticized Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and his staff for their unapologetic attitude and their failure to explain why Chen toured a privately owned luxury apartment building instead of local government infrastructure.

  “Keeping the reporters in the dark is something that a rogue nation would do and [this] should never happen in Taiwan,” she said.

  The lack of transparency, the reporter said, also suggested that the decision to hold the meeting in Taichung may have been a means to boost Hu’s chances of getting re-elected.

  Another reporter who spoke on condition of anonymity said that five reporters from his newspaper were assigned to cover the “mysterious event,” adding that it was frustrating that Hu, a former GIO head, failed to strike a balance between serving as a host to Chen and his delegation, and addressing the needs of the media.

  “If we knew the two groups of reporters were going to the same destination, we would not have wasted so much manpower on that particular event. Hu and his team offended all the reporters and made fools out of themselves,” he said.

  Hu apologized for the lack of transparency in handling Chen’s itinerary, while insisting that keeping Chen’s schedule a secret was necessary.

  “The guests’ safety is our biggest concern and we have to make such arrangements for security reasons,” he said.

  Confronted by reporters over the city government’s failure to respond to Ma’s call for transparency, Hu said that unveiling Chen’s itinerary would cause unnecessary chaos as protesters would hound Chen.

  “I saw the Presidential Office’s call [for transparency regarding Chen’s schedule] on TV and I think I am being transparent enough,” he said.

  Asked about other city and county governments’ openness on the same matter, Hu refused to comment and said local government each had their own considerations.

  Chen visited Dajia Jenn Lann Temple (大甲鎮瀾宮) in Taichung County and West Lake ­Resortopia in Miaoli County yesterday. Both counties had communicated Chen’s itineraries to the media.

  Chen will head to Nantou County tomorrow and will stay at The Lalu Hotel at Sun Moon Lake.
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