Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) yesterday denied he violated regulations when he gave students, teachers and alumni of his alma mater a tour of government buildings and treated them to a lavish meal using taxpayer money.
A report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily alleged that Yang arranged for a group from National Chengchi University — his and Vice President Vincent Siew’s (蕭萬長) alma mater — to visit as part of anniversary celebrations of its department of diplomacy last October.
According to the report, Yang took the group on a tour of the state-run Taipei Guest House and the Presidential Office before returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, where they were treated to a dinner catered by a hotel.
Government officials from as many as four agencies were involved in running the event, with tasks ranging from receiving guests to taking pictures and acting as tour guides, the report said. The newspaper said the event had left some officials “disgruntled.”
Yang said the article appeared to be the result of a misunderstanding, which he called “regrettable.”
Permission for the entire event, he said, was carefully applied for ahead of time and everything was done according to regulations.
“Many of the attendees were foreign affairs and international relations professors,” he said. “We wanted to show [our] respect to the teachers … and to thank them for training future foreign affairs officials.”
He said the request to visit the Taipei Guest House, which is normally off limits to the public, were made through official channels.
“Any public organization can make the same request for a tour,” he said.
Also speaking on the matter, ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said about 50 groups of civilians had visited the Taipei Guest House last year alone.
“It’s quite normal,” he said.
The historical building was completed in 1901 in Renaissance style under Japanese -governor-general Kodama Gentaro.
Unsatisfied with the explanations, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said the incident was reminiscent of a recent controversy involving Air Force General Lei Yu-chi (雷玉其), who was removed from his post last week after news reports that he had mobilized dozens of service personnel to serve at his son’s wedding, which was held at the Air Force Officers and Soldiers Recreation Center in downtown Taipei.
“If this isn’t a remake of the Lei Yu-chi [controversy], then what is it?” Tsai said in the legislature, adding that Yang should be investigated by the Control Yuan to determine whether he broke any laws.
“Treating the [group] only benefited himself and fails to make a distinction between the public and private [interests],” Tsai said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民), who sits on the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, defended Yang and downplayed the allegations.
Although Shuai later conceded that the minister’s behavior might have been inappropriate, he said likening it to the Lei controversy was meaningless.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN AND FLORA WANG
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