Sat, Jun 02, 2001 page4

• Taipei's low-key diplomat speaks

  Peng Run-tzu first burst into pubic view by helping on negotiate former president Lee Teng-hui's recent visa to Japan. But the 65-year-old Peng has a long history of working behind the scenes to secure smooth relations with Tokyo

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  If one were to ask 65-year-old Peng Run-tzu (彭榮次) about his occupation, he would probably say he's "an ordinary businessman," and mention little about his efforts in government-to-government diplomacy.

  But following the recent trip of former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to Japan and Peng's accompanying efforts to negotiate with Japan's Foreign Ministry to help Lee to secure a visa, his hidden talents have become apparent to the general public.

  

  Peng Run-tzu, one of Taiwan's main point men with Japan.

  PHOTO COURTESY OF ALAN PENG

  Peng's ability may seem a bit mysterious, but the reason he has played such an important role is because of his extensive connections within Japanese political and business circles -- some of which can be traced back to the 1950s -- and simply because of Lee's trust in him.

  "The old gentleman [Lee] really trusts him, so he can do a lot of things for him," said one source close to Peng.

  Even when Peng accepted an interview with the Taipei Times on May 23rd, Lee rang him up to discuss the publication of the Mandarin version of a new book about teh former president, the President in the Tiger's Mouth, by Japanese writer Fuyuko Kamisada.

  Sitting on a cozy sofa in his office, Peng, president of Taiwan Transportation Machinery Corp, recalled his first encounter with Lee back in March 1995.

  "I told some of my friends that this first meeting [with Lee] would probably be the last one," Peng said as he had planned to tell Lee whatever was on his mind including his criticisms of the KMT.

  "I never expected our relationship would last until today," Peng said.

  In fact, it was renowned Japan-ese scholar Nakajima Mineo, organizer of the Asian Open Forum, who first recommended that Lee should meet Peng. Mineo handpicked Peng (and mentioned his name to Lee) inn view of Peng's active participation in the forum's seminars as someone who often "raised his hand to speak his mind" and Mineo's knowledge of Peng's "longstanding friendship" with officials within the Japanese foreign ministry.

  advice ignored

  But Lee, then the president of Taiwan, put aside Mineo's recommendation.

  "He [Lee] was probably thinking, `why did Mineo want to introduce an ordinary businessman to me?' [He was] probably suspicious of me," Peng recalled, smiling.

  Lee decided to meet Peng in person when the Japanese government asked Peng to work as a third party to pass a related message to the Taiwanese government concerning Lee's attempt to participate in the 1995 APEC summit scheduled to take place in Osaka that autumn.

  During that first meeting with Lee, Peng passed a "message" from the Japanese side, which urged Taiwan to conduct prior consultations with Japan through informal and private communications before both pursued formal negotiations.

  The outspoken Peng also asked Lee "lots of questions" and urged him to find someone to set up a hotline between Taipei and Tokyo.

  tokyo hotline

  "I urged Lee to find someone to establish a hotline for conducting diplomacy toward Japan. It's not going to work if you confront the tough with toughness [take too much of a direct approach] in dealing with Japan. The Japanese declined to be engaged in direct and open communications [with Taiwan], and they preferred secret ones," Peng said.

  "I didn't say that I would do the job, but I urged him to find someone to set up the hotline," Peng added.

  But when Peng represented Lee to negotiate with the Japanese side -- through telephone calls -- over Lee's visa this spring, Peng, in hindsight, indeed was the "hotline" between Taipei and Tokyo.

  Although a month has passed since the end of the tough and tedious negotiations with the Japanese foreign ministry (as well as Lee's five-day visit to Japan) Peng remained low-key in detailing the negotiations and his efforts in arranging Lee's trip.

  But the Miaoli-born Hakka didn't mind reminiscing about his longstanding friendships with Japanese friends (such as former Japanese Ambassador to China Tanino Sakutaro) that can be traced back to the mid-1950s when he was studying at National Taiwan University.

  During that time, Taiwan granted scholarships to students from Japan, Korea and the US, and the Japanese foreign ministry dispatched some of their diplomats, such as Sakutaro, to Taiwan for three years of overseas training.

  These overseas students soon developed close relationships with Peng due to his outstanding ability in Japanese and he was assigned informally by the university to "take care" of these students.

  "I was thrilled by their company," Peng said. "Like us, they too had been through similar struggles common to the post-war period. And they had so many different experiences," he added.

  The young people from Japan, Taiwan and Korea sometimes spent their entire days in the International House of Taipei, where the overseas students lived.

  They engaged themselves in dancing and playing as well as heated discussions on topics of the time -- including the thriving socialism in Japan, tricky Tokyo-Beijing-US relations, and the future of Taiwan.

  "Every day we debated and that indeed polished my Japanese," Peng said, who dropped law for economics after he immersed himself as a university freshman in Japanese literature and found their tradition of sentimentalism especially charming.

  networking pays off

  This connection, in hindsight, not only broadened Peng's range of views but also extended the circle of his acquaintances.

  For instance, Peng and Sakutaro have remained "very close" since then and Sakutaro subsequently introduced him to friends in Japanese political and business circles.

  "Because Sakutaro's work in the foreign ministry developed smoothly ... and because he became very influential, he introduced me to many influential figures in Japan after I started working. Especially after Japan cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan -- he introduced these figures to me one by one," Peng said.

  When official contacts between Taiwan and Japan at formal occasions became taboo, Peng continued to enjoy the privilege of getting acquainted with many Japanese officials like Shintaro Ishihara, the current Governor of Tokyo, as well as the former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

  "I regarded these ties as part of my private life and quite enjoyed these acquaintances. I had no intention whatsoever of using these ties to boost my own business," Peng said.

  Sources say that when Lee chose Peng to help him arrange his trip to Japan, these long-standing connections began to yield dividends.

  "In a way ... we completely relied on the forces of friendship," said one source who was involved in the lobbying efforts and negotiations to secure Lee's visa.

  And although the new Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka has uttered words of caution on whether to issue another visa to Lee, who wants to return to Japan to see his cardiologist this autumn, Peng remained optimistic about the possibility that Lee would be permitted.

  "I think this can be overcome," Peng said.
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