Earning the trust of President Chen Shui-bian (
Independence-minded figures such as Mark Chen (陳唐山) and Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) now respectively lead the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council as Chen starts his second term. But the post of Taiwan's top representative to Washington -- the country's most important diplomatic position -- fell into the lap of a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member for the second time.
PHOTO: CNA
Lee, who is to succeed Chen Chien-jen (
Four years ago, the DPP won the presidential election for the first time. After its defeat, the KMT asked its members to re-register in efforts to overhaul the party. Many government officials who previously belonged to the KMT abstained from re-registering in a bid to secure their political careers under DPP rule.
Lee was one of the few who re-registered. The 55-year-old, who was the country's top representative to Brussels and the EU, was on Saturday seen talking quietly with Chen Shui-bian on a train trip to Ilan County, where a two-day orientation program for new Cabinet officials was held.
KMT Legislator Bill Sun (孫國華) described Lee as the "single blue dot in a green bush," as he is the only KMT member in Chen Shui-bian's DPP administration.
Lee's former boss, KMT Legislator John Chang (章孝嚴), a former foreign minister, warned Lee that he might suffer the same fate as Chen Chien-jen, who was constantly ridiculed and criticized by his own party for working for the DPP government.
Lee's ties with the KMT are unusually close. He was a student of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Chen Shui-bian's hour-long conversation with Lee on the train was seen as a deliberate gesture to demonstrate his trust in Lee.
"I think President Chen fully trusts Lee. The DPP trusts people easily," said DPP Legislator Lin Chung-mo (
Lee, who returned to Taipei from Brussels last week, visited a number of DPP and KMT legislators, including Lin, before his question-and-answer session in the legislature.
"I gave Lee a lot of encouragement during our meeting. I don't want to see him bullied like Chen Chien-jen," Lin said.
Lien's relationship with Chen Chien-jen soured after the latter became the top representative to the US. Last year, Lien's wife, Fang Yu (
Officials from both the KMT and DPP have said they will be interested to see how Lee manages to stay on good terms with Lien while at the same time earning Chen Shui-bian's trust.
"Obtaining President Chen's trust alone is not enough. I also need the trust of his close aides. It is part of my responsibility to let them trust me," Lee said.
According to Lee, politics can be both a science and an art.
"In science you only need to follow formulas. Creating art is a case-by-case challenge," he said.
Lee started his diplomatic career as a staff consultant in the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office and was head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston from 1993 to 1996.
Under Lee's leadership, the Boston office was rated top performer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' assessment of Taiwan's 12 offices in the US.
The Taipei Representative Office in Belgium, which also handles relations with the EU, was rated the country's best-performing foreign office after Lee took over as its head.
"My approach is to make complicated tasks simple and give my subordinates clear instructions about how to complete their work. I demand that they work hard from Monday to Friday, but I never ring them during weekends," Lee said.
"Thinking before you start doing things" was Lee's motto in face of adversity.
"You have to use a lot of energy to smooth things out. What the public sees are the results, but few know about the untold efforts behind these achievements," he said.
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