The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said the selection of an Aborigine as the nation’s representative in Fiji was based on cultural, not political, considerations after the appointment came under fire from a group of pan-blue legislators.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) yesterday urged the ministry to postpone the appointment of Yohani Isqaqavut, arguing that it would be a diplomatic embarrassment if the representative were recalled after 15 days when the new administration takes office on May 20.
Yohani is scheduled to commence his assignment on May 5.
The two KMT lawmakers said as a political appointee under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, Yohani, a former spokesman for DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), would not be selected by the incoming KMT administration.
“We have a lot of excellent Aboriginal talent within the party,” Ting said.
Kung ridiculed the DPP government for waiting until the end of its eight-year term before appointing an Aboriginal to be a representative to an Austronesian country.
“Is the DPP government showing respect to the Aboriginal community or just toying with them?” he said.
Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) said it had been Foreign Minister James Huang’s (黃志芳) idea to appoint an Aborigine as the representative to the South Pacific nation last year.
“It was important to find a suitable person from the Aboriginal community, one who has rich administrative experience and is well-versed in foreign affairs. It was a time-consuming process to go through all the necessary steps before we could officially announce the candidate,” Yeh said.
Yeh said Fiji has already been notified about Yohani’s arrival.
In response, Isak Afo, secretary-general of the Taiwan Aboriginal Society said that the KMT should give Yohani a chance.
“It’s very positive to have an Aborigine serve as the representative to Fiji, since both Taiwanese Aborigines and Fijians share an Austronesian cultural heritage,” Isak told the Taipei Times by telephone.
“Yohani is a good choice for the post because he is a person who always puts full effort into whatever he does and he speaks fluent English. Most importantly, the Fijian government has agreed to the assignment and that would imply that the Chinese embassy in Fiji also finds Yohani an acceptable candidate,” Isak said.
While agreeing that the KMT has many suitable Aboriginal candidates, Isak said that the party should name one.
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