Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) yesterday announced that he would resign next week because of health concerns and to pursue other career plans.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General Lin Join-sane (林中森) will take over his position.
Chiang, 79, said he first offered his resignation to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on May 18 at the launch ceremony of the new SEF building in Taipei and urged the president to appoint someone as soon as possible.
Photo: CNA
Chiang added that he decided to announce his resignation this time before receiving an official confirmation from the Presidential Office because the SEF is holding a board meeting today.
“Because of my age, health and career plans, I decided to offer my resignation and hand over the important duty of managing cross-strait affairs to other cross-strait experts,” he said yesterday in an impromptu press conference at the SEF.
Chiang thanked Ma for trusting him with the position, while dismissing accusations that he and his family have close business ties in China.
“I hope my resignation will make all groundless accusations against me and my family members disappear as well,” he said.
The Presidential Office later said Ma had approved Chiang’s resignation and Lin would take over as SEF chairman.
SEF Vice Chairman Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) also offered his resignation yesterday.
During his term, Chiang has presided over eight rounds of cross-strait negotiations with his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), since 2008, with the two sides signing 18 agreements and the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
Chiang’s resignation was just the start of changes in the Ma administration’s cross-strait affairs personnel. The Presidential Office confirmed later yesterday that Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) had been appointed representative to the WTO. National Security Council adviser Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) will take over as MAC chairman.
Wang, 49, is one of Ma’s top aides, having served as a spokesman for the Presidential Office and was involved in policymaking in Ma’s administration.
Commenting on the appointment, Wang said he would continue to promote cross-strait relations and seek to convey the government’s cross-strait policies in a clear and accurate manner.
Lai said she would take advantage of her four years of experience at the MAC to promote the nation’s global participation at the WTO, based on the success of the Ma administration’s cross-strait policies.
The personnel changes will take effect later this month.
WHEELING AND DEALING? Hou You-yi, Ko Wen-je, Eric Chu and Ma Ying-jeou are under investigation for allegedly offering bribes for the other side to drop out of the race Taipei prosecutors have started an investigation into allegations that four top politicians involved in attempts to form a “blue-white” presidential ticket have contravened election regulations. Listed as defendants are Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲). The case stemmed from judicial complaints filed last month with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office alleging that the KMT (blue) and the TPP (white) had engaged in bribery by offering money or other enticements
ELIGIBLE FOR JANUARY: All presidential candidates and their running mates meet the requirements to run for office, and none hold dual citizenship, the CEC said Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator and vice presidential candidate Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) is working with the Central Election Commission (CEC) to resolve issues with her financial disclosure statement, a spokesman for the candidate said yesterday, after the commission published the statements of all three presidential candidates and their running mates, while confirming their eligibility to run in the Jan. 13 election. Wu’s office spokesman, Chen Yu-cheng (陳宥丞), said the candidate encountered unforeseen difficulties disclosing her husband’s finances due to being suddenly thrust into the campaign. She is also the first vice presidential nominee to have a foreign spouse, complicating the reporting of
GOOD NEWS: Although open civic spaces are shrinking in Asia-Pacific countries and territories, Taiwan’s openness is a positive sign, an expert said Taiwan remains the only country in Asia with an “open” civic space for the fifth consecutive year, the Civicus Monitor said in a report released yesterday. The People Power Under Attack 2023 report named Taiwan as one of only 37 open countries or territories out of 198 globally, and the only one in Asia. Compiled by Civicus — a global alliance of civil society organizations dedicated to bolstering civil action — the ranking compiled annually since 2017 measures the state of freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression around the world. Researchers assign each country or territory one of five rankings describing the
NOT JUST CHIPS: Although semiconductor processes are on the list, it also includes military technology and post-quantum cryptography to combat emerging cyberthreats The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday released a list of 22 technologies it considers crucial to the nation’s security and competitiveness, including the 14-nanometer semiconductor process and advanced chip packaging. For the first time, the council made a list of core technologies with an aim of preventing secret information about those technologies being leaked to foreign countries, which could put the nation’s security and the competitiveness of local industries at risk. For years, local semiconductor companies have faced challenges from talent poaching and theft of corporate secrets by Chinese competitors, who are seeking to rapidly advance their technology capabilities through
RSS