The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday dismissed media reports that Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Shih (史亞平), despite the sensitivity of her position, circumvented rules to attend the meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to take credit for the event.
“The report is unsubstantiated. Reporters from around the world were going to report on the Ma-Xi meeting in Singapore on Saturday last week, and the ministry was responsible for arranging administrative affairs and contacting reporters,” Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said yesterday.
Lin said Shih originally planned to attend a business meeting overseas, but was asked by the ministry to fly to Singapore a day prior to the Ma-Xi meeting to help with preparations.
Shih was not in Singapore in her personal capacity, Lin said, dismissing allegations that she had attempted to take credit for the meeting.
Lin was responding to an article published by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) yesterday, that said that Shih had bypassed rules barring foreign affairs officials from participating in cross-strait events, by applying for a leave of absence and attending the Ma-Xi meeting under the pretense of traveling in her personal capacity.
The report said there was a tacit understanding between both sides across the Taiwan Strait that no foreign affairs official be allowed at the Ma-Xi meeting, but Shih flew to Singapore on the same plane as Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) on Friday last week.
“Shih’s presence left Presidential Office officials dumbfounded... However, as most government officials and the media were unaware at the time that Shih was there under the pretext of vacation, her position as vice foreign minister gave her a free pass during the event and allowed her to follow Ma every step of the way,” the article said.
It added that due to Shih’s close ties with Ma and his most trusted aide, former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), many high-ranking government officials did not dare speak up even though they took exception to her actions.
MOFA spokesperson Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) yesterday shrugged off the report.
Wang said the ministry was not involved in the Ma-Xi meeting, or the coordination of cross-strait affairs, adding that it simply played an auxiliary role in the event by contacting foreign agencies, attending to foreign journalists, and distributing international press materials.
Due to a limited preparation time and a large number of foreign correspondents registered to cover the meeting, Shih was charged with overseeing arrangements such as issuing media passes, preparing work spaces and establishing a smooth flow of information during the meeting, Wang said.
“She also led a group of the ministry’s Department of International Information Services officials to provide assistance and helped coordinate their efforts with Taiwan’s representative offices in Singapore,” Wang said.
She added that Shih did not directly participate in affairs related to the meeting, or had any contacts with Chinese or Singaporean officials.
It is not the first time that Shih, who is set to assume the position of the representative to Austria in January, was embroiled in a controversy.
In 2012, Shih, who was representative to Singapore at the time, was recalled to Taipei after allegedly irritating Singapore by displaying the ROC flag in public and singing the ROC anthem at a Double Ten National Day celebration the previous year.
Her actions had violated the rules of the city-state, which maintains a “one China” policy.
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