Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) had little to say yesterday about reports of a major personnel reshuffle at his ministry that would reportedly include replacing two deputy ministers.
The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that Representative to Singapore Vanessa Shih (史亞平) would succeed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡), who would become the representative to the UK.
The newspaper quoted Yang as saying that he was not aware of the reshuffle, while the paper said its source was from the highest echelons of government.
“I really have no idea [about] Deputy Minister Shen,” Yang said in response to a question from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) at the legislature.
Fielding questions from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), Yang said the newspaper was not in a position to decide whether Shen was suitable for a deputy minister’s job.
Approached by the Taipei Times after the session to clarify his remarks, Yang said the matter “has not even taken shape yet.”
Among the issues involved in such a personnel shuffle was that the government does not announce a top diplomat posting before it obtains approval for the designation from the country involved, he said.
Shen was not available for comment, while Shih was quoted by the Central News Agency as saying that she saw nothing but speculation in the report and would not comment.
However, Yang confirmed that he had suggested the government designate Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Thomas Hou (侯平福), who is set to retire, as ambassador extraordinary to the Dominican Republic because of his outstanding performance.
The newspaper also reported that Representative to the UK Katherine Chang (張小月) would be transferred to Australia to replace Representative to Australia Gary Lin (林松煥), who would return to the ministry.
Ministry spokesperson James Chang (章計平) said the ministry had no comment on the reported reshuffle.
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