The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed an amendment to the Act on Recruiting Diplomats Dispatched Overseas (駐外外交領事人員任用條例), raising the maximum number of senior diplomats the president can directly appoint from 10 to 15 percent of the total number of diplomats stationed overseas.
The amendment raises the number of senior diplomats the president can appoint from nine to 14, with the exception of ambassadors and permanent representatives.
The rule would apply to diplomats who were posted through appointments and those who were not required to pass qualifying exams or meet certain qualifications set for ordinary diplomats to be posted overseas, such as tenure at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or one of the nation’s overseas representative offices.
As a diplomat’s job is highly professional and political, candidates’ experience working with international organizations and their abilities in carrying out the nation’s diplomatic policies, thereby boosting its international profile, should be evaluated first and foremost, which is why appointees are allowed to bypass government exams, said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), who proposed the amendment.
Lawmakers have since former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) second term pushed for the qualifications of ambassadors, permanent representatives and deputy permanent representatives to be relaxed and in 2013 amended the act, he said.
However, the previous amendment placed a 10 percent cap on the number of senior diplomats the president can appoint, which unduly limits the president’s purview, Tuan said.
The new amendment serves to “slightly remedy” that problem, he said.
Prior to the amendment’s second reading, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) raised doubts over the proposal, saying it could be yet another pork-barrel move by the DPP government, which has added at least 100 political appointees since it took office 18 months ago.
The amendment could negatively affect the diplomatic bureaucracy and draw complaints from diplomats, she said.
KMT Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) said the proposal would allow the government to appoint more people who share its political values as ambassadors, while unfairly hurting the chances of promotion for diplomats who studied hard to pass qualifying exams.
Despite the objections, the proposed amendment was passed with a majority vote predominantly from DPP lawmakers.
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