Seeking to stop a controversy from spinning out of control, the Presidential Office yesterday urged aides of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to exercise restraint after they insinuated that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) did not fully appreciate Lien’s efforts to improve cross-strait relations.
At a press conference, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that the focus of the talks between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last week was the negotiations and agreements themselves, not non-business related affairs.
“Anything that blurs the focus of the event should be avoided,” he said. “The president has always had great respect for former chairman Lien. We hope his aides would be heedful of their words and actions and refrain from overstepping their authority. We hope this matter will stop here.”
Wang made the remarks in response to the comments by Ting Yuan-chao (丁遠超), director of Lien’s office, who harshly criticized Ma for not allowing Lien to host a banquet for Chen during his stay.
Ting on Sunday told the Chinese-language China Times that Ma should “cherish” what Lien has done for cross-strait relations. Had it not been for the “ice-breaking” visits by Lien and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to China in 2005, Chen’s latest visit would never have happened, Ting said.
Ting also praised Lien for his close relationship with US President Barack Obama, saying that no one in the country’s 60-year history of foreign affairs could rival Lien in this regard.
Ting made the comments after the China Times quoted a SEF official as saying that a situation in which three Taiwanese political heavyweights tried to host banquets for Chen during his visit was like “the A-listers versus the C-listers,” with Chen as the “C-list” politician.
The three politicians were Lien, Soong and former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄). While Lien attended a dinner banquet hosted by Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and Wu and one by Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻), Soong refused to attend the dinner hosted by Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿). Instead, Soong visited Chen before the dinner and Chen also called off a boat trip to Sun Moon Lake with the media to meet Soong.
Chiang on Sunday said that no one at the SEF had made the “C-list” comment, but backtracked yesterday by saying that such a remark had been made during a private conversation. He did not elaborate, saying the issue did not deserve to be mentioned again.
Soong later expressed discontent over the manner in which the SEF conveyed Ma’s message that it would not be a good idea for political parties to host banquets for Chen during his visit.
Wang yesterday said the government did not prevent any political figures from meeting Chen and rather proposed they attend the banquets hosted by local chiefs. Wang said Ma felt sorry that the sitting and former chairmen could not host banquets for Chen and hoped they would put the interests of the country above everything else.
As for who did a poor job conveying Ma’s message, Wang said “it was appropriate” for Chiang to do that because he doubles as KMT vice chairman.
Chiang yesterday said he believed Soong’s criticism was not directed at him because he had assigned SEF Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) to handle communications with political leaders. Chiang said that although he had not received word from China, they would communicate with ARATS over the matter.
Describing Lien as a “treasure,” Ting yesterday said he did not mean to provoke unnecessary divisions. He only meant to remind “those handling cross-strait affairs and important matters” to have a broad mind and pay attention to details, he said.
Ting said it was unnecessary for the Presidential Office to hold a press conference to respond to his comments and that he did not need to be told what to do as an aide.
Lien has yet to comment on the matter.
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