Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials were left red-faced yesterday after it emerged that staffers asked award-winning vegetable-selling philanthropist Chen Shu-chu (陳樹菊) on multiple occasions to publicly thank government officials and say that she was representing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The 59-year-old Chen, who has never before traveled outside Taiwan, was listed on Time magazine's 100 most influential list, ranking eighth in the “heroes” category for her donations to children's funds, schools and orphanages.
Traveling to New York to receive the prestigious award, Chen was repeatedly asked by her MOFA escort to make drawn-out comments thanking government officials and praising their involvement.
PHOTO: TSAO YU-FEN, TAIPEI TIMES
The staffer, Simon Sung (宋申武) from Taiwan's representative office in New York, was caught on camera whispering to Chen during media interviews to say that she “represented the president and the minister of foreign affairs.”
In lengthy comments made on the red carpet yesterday, Chen, who wore a ministry-supplied national flag pin on her lapel, said: “I represent President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), I represent the pride of Taiwan, the Taitung County commissioner and also the minister of foreign affairs and all of our senior foreign ministry officials.”
In a candid moment at another setting also captured on tape, Chen was seen asking Sung who else she should say she represented. Sung promptly whispered back that she should also have mentioned the minister of foreign affairs.
“I represent the president ... and is there anything else? Oh right, our foreign affairs minister,” Chen said.
Back in Taipei, MOFA officials attempted to downplay the comments in the face of cross-party criticism from legislators.
“[Sung] was undoubtedly very enthusiastic, but he was not told to say that. It's a problem of perception, so we will remind him that enough is enough,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Hou (侯清山) said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) accused the ministry of exploiting Chen's international success and using her to prop up the government's foreign affairs efforts.
“[Their] intention was to use Chen's kindness to boost President Ma's political achievements,” Tsai said. “It's really disgraceful behavior.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) called on Sung to stop “toadying” and said that such behavior harmed the image of both the ministry and the president, and failed to let the public see Chen's humble self.
“[MOFA] seems to have done too much to try and kiss ass and it's made a fool of itself,” she said.
MOFA Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) yesterday said he regretted that the ministry's assistance had been interpreted the wrong way.
“The ministry's position was simple. There were two objectives. The first was to bring her charity work to the international stage as her receiving the award is an honor for Taiwan. Second was to encourage people to follow suit and make charitable donations,” Henry Chen said.
Henry Chen, who met Chen Shu-chu at a dinner hosted by MOFA Minister Timothy Yang (楊進添) on Sunday, said that Chen Shu-chu was very shy and not so eloquent.
“Under the circumstances, she did not know how to answer questions and looked for other people to tell her what to say,” Henry Chen said.
When questioned by reporters, Sung said Chen Shu-chu had specifically asked him to remind her to express her thanks to Ma, Yang and Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭).
Chen is expected to return to Taiwan tomorrow after a brief stop in San Francisco.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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