Facing questions over his ability to represent the country in Japan, the newly appointed envoy to Tokyo yesterday said he was receptive to all opinions and would use them to improve his performance.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳) was designated on Tuesday as the country’s new envoy to Japan to replace John Feng (馮寄台), who has applied to retire to care for his mother in Taiwan.
The veteran, but low-profile diplomat has responded to a barrage of criticism that he was unsuited to his new job. Critics have pointed to a supposed low level of Japanese proficiency, his lack of experience in Japan-related affairs and his lack of familiarity with Japan. They also accuse him of not being a close confidant of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Shen said he has always valued all criticism “with a modest attitude” whatever its source, and that everyone should feel free to give advice.
“Some people might think that I am relatively reticent, but I am of an argumentative disposition. However, when it comes to dealing with the media, I respect the media for the role it plays. Whatever you write, I will not refute it, but instead try to understand how people judge our performance at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Shen said.
Some Chinese-language newspapers called Shen a lightweight, compared with some of his predecessors, who either personally had close connections with Japan’s political community, were known as “Japanophiles,” or were confidants of the president.
As to his Japanese language skills, Shen, who is fluent in English, said: “As society changes, so does language. From this perspective, I humbly accept criticism regarding my proficiency in Japanese. There is no limit to learning.”
Shen learned Japanese when he majored in politics at National Taiwan University and then attended Japanese classes at the ministry’s Foreign Service Institute. However, Shen said he had not meant to prepare himself to be the country’s representative to Japan when he studied the language.
The 58-year-old Shen said he educated himself in Japanese in his youth, partly because of Japan’s important role in the region.
Shen said he has made it a habit to read Japanese books.
When he learned Japanese, he tried to memorize the dictionary, though he would not say that he had memorized the whole dictionary.
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