TECRO HQS GETTING DOWNSIZED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000246

SIPDIS

STATE PASS AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV TW
SUBJECT: TECRO HQS GETTING DOWNSIZED

Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal; Reasons: 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. Taiwan's Legislative Yuan (LY) has slashed
Taipei's Coordination Council for North American Affairs
TECRO Headquarters (HQS) budget and approved a plan to
reassign almost all TECRO personnel and responsibilities to
other government ministries. Taiwan officials assert that
the move is designed to streamline interaction between AIT
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and does not
represent a change in policy. KMT LY Foreign Affairs
Committee member John Chang, a former Foreign Minister and
TECRO HQS Secretary General, was largely responsible for the
plan. The LY has instructed MOFA's personnel office to come
up with a plan within three months to redistribute TECRO
responsibilities to other offices. The timing of TECRO's
downsizing is unfortunate, given the organization's
increasingly helpful role in smoothing the way for
construction of AIT's new facility. While MOFA asserts that
it did not support gutting TECRO, Taiwan has long wanted to
reduce or eliminate both TECRO and AIT to strengthen the
appearance of direct government-to-government ties between
Taiwan and the U.S. End summary.

Streamlining AIT-MOFA Interaction
--------------


2. (C) The LY's reorganization plan for the Coordination
Council for North American Affairs, the home office for
U.S.-based TECRO missions, is designed to allow AIT directly
to interact with MOFA and other government offices. Former
TECRO Secretary General, John Chen, told AIT that the
brain-child behind the move is LY member John Chang, a former
Foreign Minister and Secretary General of TECRO. Chang told
AIT that TECRO cannot give the impression that it functions
as an office that determines Taipei's policy with the U.S.
Chang said that MOFA should be the direct interlocutor with
AIT on policy issues. Chang also said he is tired of TECRO
being used as a "political dumping ground" for political
appointees, such as the current chair Lin Fang-mei. Former
Secretary General Chen opined that Chang believes TECRO's

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duties are redundant and add an extra layer of process to
interaction between AIT and MOFA. Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) LY Foreign Affairs Committee Member Bi-khim Hsiao
told AIT separately that she supported Chang's plan. Hsiao
said that from the LY's perspective, TECRO's only
bureaucratic role appears to be forwarding Taipei's visa
applications to AIT.


3. (C) Chen maintained that the TECRO plan does not represent
a change in policy and that it is just an effort to
streamline Taiwan's bureaucracy and cut costs. Chen added
that USD 21,000 has already been cut from the TECRO HQS
approximately USD 140,000 operating budget (Note: this figure
is TECRO's basic operating budget and does not include
salaries or administrative expenses. End note). The LY also
plans to eventually reduce the number of officers from 12 to
just "two or three." According to Chen, the LY wanted to
eliminate TECRO completely, but Chen said that MOFA pushed
back strongly to keep at least TECRO's shell in existence.
Chen told AIT that the LY has mandated that within three
months MOFA's personnel office must submit a plan detailing
how TECRO will be reorganized and its duties partitioned to
other government offices. Chen said that MOFA could provide
funding to TECRO through other accounts if it was needed and
"if we continue to exist."

Process Will Be Gradual
--------------


4. (C) TECRO officials maintain the process of down-sizing of
TECRO will be conducted gradually to ensure a smooth
transition. Chen said he wanted to assure AIT that Taiwan
places great value on the relationship with Washington and
that he was certain nothing would be done that would
negatively impact AIT through this process. The aim, he
said, "is to improve our relationship by making interaction
easier." However, Chen told AIT that there could be an issue
with how the work is assumed by other offices. Chen added
that this will be addressed in the upcoming MOFA study. He
privately admitted that he is not surprised by Chang's move
because there has been talk of doing this for years. Chen
added that he thinks that this will be beneficial for AIT
because it really will improve direct interaction between AIT
and MOFA.
Comment: Fast Track to Long Term Goal
--------------


5. (C) While TECRO may call it gradual, the organization
appears to be fast disintegrating. Because of a political
fight, its chair Lin has been effectively marginalized.
Former Secretary General Chen on January 8 assumed his duties
as Director General of MOFA's International Organizations
Department and APEC Senior Official for Taiwan. TECRO Deputy
Secretary General Jacqueline Liu has just been assigned to

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Taiwan's office in Manila. Recently named TECRO Deputy
Secretary General Raymond Mou is still in his previous job in

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the Foreign Minister's office and said he does not plan to
move anytime soon.


6. (C) There may well be legitimate bureaucratic and
financial reasons to downsize TECRO HQS. However, the
elimination of TECRO HQS has also been seen as a key step
towards "normalizing" the U.S.-Taiwan relationship by
successive governments in Taipei. Moreover, the timing of
TECRO's downsizing is unfortunate, given the organization's
increasingly helpful role in smoothing the way for
construction of AIT's new office building (NOB). Former
TECRO Secretary General Chen seemed to work overtime to
complete the remaining work on property leases before he
transferred to MOFA's International Organizations Department
on January 8. Whether his successor has the personal and
bureaucratic standing to advance the NOB project as
successfully as Chen after the TECRO reorganization is very
much an open question.


7. (C) In any case we will need to watch TECRO's fate closely
to preserve the current, symbolically significant structure
for our "unofficial" interaction with Taiwan, even as it
shrinks to the size of a figleaf.
PAAL