Deputy Secretary-General to the President Eugene Chien (簡又新) yesterday declined to comment on reports that he would become the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle.
"I am unable to comment on that," Chien said in a press conference yesterday afternoon that marked the return of Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) from her trip to Nicaragua and Paraguay.
Lu, however, spared no words in her support of Chien. "Chien used to work for the previous administration and is a man with sound credentials," Lu said.
Chien served as Taipei's top representative to London from 1993 to 1998 after stepping down from his post as the Minister of Transportation and Communications in 1993 amid his alleged involvement in a scandal surrounding a project for the expansion of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway.
Sources said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has made an unofficial decision to pick Chien to replace incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂). But the announcement will not be made until Chen's press conference tomorrow.
Tien was low-key on Friday when asked to comment on speculation about his removal, saying: "My biggest hope now is to lead a normal life." The scholar-turned-minister said that Chen had not discussed the reshuffle with him.
When contacted by the Taipei Times yesterday, Tien's wife Kuo Mei-hui (郭美惠) said Chen did not even bring up the issue with Tien during a banquet Chen held Friday evening to thank key Cabinet members for their work.
The ministry, however, has already arranged a farewell dinner for local reporters at Tien's residence on Tuesday evening.
Chien's wife Wang Kuei-jung (
"You know in the past there were times when the press was talking about the same thing, and then it was never realized in the end," Wang said, referring to reports in 1997 when Chien was reportedly favored by then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to become the foreign minister.
With a PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from New York University in 1973, Chien first served as professor of chemistry in the department of Aeronautical Engineering at Tamkang University from 1976 to 1978.
After serving as a lawmaker from 1984 to 1987, Chien climbed the political ladder to lead the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration for four years before becoming transportation minister. Chien was a member of the National Security Council from 1998 to 2000 before taking his current post at the Presidential Office.
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