Legislators yesterday passed an amendment to the Organization Act of Diplomatic Missions of the Republic of China (駐外機構組織通則) that allows the government to appoint resident ministers and deputy representatives to the nation’s foreign representative offices, a move the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has criticized as an effort to engage in pork-barrel politics.
Resident ministers and deputy representatives can be stationed at the nation’s foreign representative offices in addition to representatives and permanent representatives as political appointees, according to the amendment, with the Executive Yuan saying that the legislation would help ease the burden on representatives and permanent representatives when handling diplomatic tasks.
The appointment of deputy ministers or resident ministers should be conducted after assessing the diplomatic situation in the nation for which the appointment is intended, as well as the diplomatic situation in Taiwan, the Executive Yuan said.
The recruitment of diplomatic staff under the amendment would be conducive to promoting the nation’s diplomatic policies in the face of challenges posed by the ever-changing international political climate, it added.
The quota on the number of resident ministers and deputy representatives that the government can appoint is set at 10 to ensure flexibility in the appointments and allow civil servants who have passed an exam the opportunity to be promoted, the amendment says.
To avoid disrupting the internal administration of a foreign representative office, and ensure stability and consistency of a foreign mission, offices to which two or more deputy representatives or resident ministers are assigned have the right to appoint one of the officials, it says.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that six foreign representative offices — in Tokyo, Washington, Manila, Jakarta, the EU and at the WTO — qualify for such appointments, all of which are important diplomatic missions.
However, the KMT said the amendment served the DPP’s political aims.
Since coming to power in May 2016, the DPP has created several new agencies, and increased the number of heads and deputy heads at second and third-tier agencies that the government can appoint so that it can appoint people it favors to high office, KMT caucus secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said.
The new legislation would seriously undermine the system that governs civil servants and hurt their morale, as political appointments would likely see people lacking the necessary expertise occupying high-ranking posts, she said.
The DPP pushed through the amendment to put itself in a favorable position ahead of the nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 24, she said, adding that along with pension cuts for civil servants set to take effect on July 1, the legislation would sap the morale of civil servants.
KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that with the nation’s diplomatic situation already dire, political appointments would deal a blow to Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials with solid diplomatic training.
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