The latest reshuffle of top officials in charge of US and China affairs was another example of “inbreeding” in the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the opposition said yesterday, adding that the inexperienced officials’ ability to handle external relations was questionable.
National Security Council adviser Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) were tapped for the jobs because of their close relationship with Ma, not for their experience and expertise, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said.
In a partial Cabinet reshuffle announced on Wednesday, Wang will take over as Mainland Affairs Council minister, while King will become Taiwan’s -representative to the US.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
“It was definitely surprising,” DPP Policy Research Committee executive director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) — who held both positions under the former DPP administration — said in response to a media inquiry about the reshuffle.
Wu served as council chairman between 2004 and 2007 and representative to the US between 2007 and 2008.
He said inexperience would be the primary concern for the two in handling Taiwan’s most important external relations.
King is not a professional diplomat, the criteria Ma had set for diplomatic appointments when he was inaugurated in 2008, Wu said, adding that King also lacked the coordination and communication skills that would be crucial in dealing with US government agencies, the US Congress and the overseas Taiwanese community.
Incoming minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂), who replaced Timothy Yang (楊進添), will likely be sandwiched between King and new National Security Council secretary-general Jason Yuan (袁健生), both known for their aggressiveness, Wu said.
The appointment of Wang, along with Lin Join-sane (林中森) as Straits Exchange Foundation chairman, means that Taiwan will face complicated cross-strait affairs and negotiations with a pair of officials who have no previous experience on China, he said.
“They are not familiar with Chinese affairs or the Chinese officials they have to deal with. And vice versa ... It is a huge risk,” Wu said.
Naming his confidants to the positions signaled Ma’s intention to gain “complete control” over cross-strait affairs and foreign relations, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
“Most of all, it could be the prelude to Ma’s pursuit of a peace agreement with China as part of his presidential legacy, which would be a dangerous move that could jeopardize Taiwan’s sovereignty,” Ker said.
The DPP has launched a campaign calling for a complete reshuffle of the Cabinet to “save Taiwan’s economy,” ahead of tomorrow’s vote of no confidence against the Cabinet in the legislature.
TSU caucus whip Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) said the appointments once again shows that Ma makes personnel decisions “inside his inner circle” of trusted aides who share his ideology.
The TSU said that Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥), Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) and Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) should be replaced for their poor performance.
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work. The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials. CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers. The alleged abuses included denying
RSS