The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced the latest wave of a personnel reshuffle yesterday, including the appointments of new representatives to Poland, Germany and New Zealand.
Ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said at a news conference that Wei Wu-lien (魏武煉), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, has been appointed representative to Germany; Tsai Erh-huang (蔡爾晃), a former ambassador to Belize, has been appointed representative to New Zealand; and Kelly Hsieh (謝武樵), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto, has been appointed head of the Geneva bureau under the Taipei Economic and Cultural Delegation in Switzerland.
Wei will replace You Ching (尤清), a technocrat of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who resigned recently as the representative to Germany.
Other possible changes overseas include the head of Taipei representative offices in Belgium, Italy and Brazil, Chen said.
“All these new arrangements are still in the pipeline,” he said.
Meanwhile, representative to Switzerland George Liu (劉寬平) said yesterday he had tendered his resignation a day earlier in light of his dual citizenship.
Liu’s resignation came amid reports that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration was planning to replace a number of non-career diplomats appointed by the former DPP administration.
Liu, who is currently in Taipei, told the Central News Agency’s correspondent in Geneva by telephone that he had personally handed in his letter of resignation to Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) at a meeting with the minister on Tuesday morning.
The letter was written late last month as the discussion over the appropriateness of officials holding foreign citizenship or permanent residency resurfaced, Liu said.
Although Liu filed a form to renounce his US citizenship late last year before he assumed the post of representative to Switzerland in February, he is still a US citizen because US authorities have not asked him to appear at a US embassy or consulate to complete the procedure.
Liu, previously a Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator, had been named in media reports speculating which diplomatic officials were likely to be replaced in the personnel reshuffle.
Liu also expressed displeasure yesterday at the way the ministry had handled personnel issues.
Instead of directly informing those concerned of its decisions, the ministry has allowed the media to break the news, which has also sown rumors, Liu said.
“This has damaged the reputation of diplomatic officials,” he said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS