"DEEP GREENS" ATTACK TAIWAN REPRESENTATIVE IN

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000795 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2031 TAGS: PGOV PREL TW SUBJECT: "DEEP GREENS" ATTACK TAIWAN REPRESENTATIVE IN WASHINGTON TAIPEI 00000795 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: AIT Acting Director David J. Keegan, Reason(s): 1.4 (B/D) ¶1. (S) Summary. Taiwan's representatives in Washington and Brussels, David Lee and C. J. Chen, are under attack from Deep Green ideologues, who view them as opposition Kuomintang (KMT) holdovers unwilling to vigorously push the Green cause. David Lee, under attack for his supposed weak advocacy on the NUC/NUG issue, will have to tread very carefully during the upcoming visit of KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou. Taiwan,s EU representative C. J. Chen may be another target of the ideologues for supporting Ma during his EU visit last month. End Summary. ¶2. (S) One week after President Chen's January 29 Lunar New Year speech announcing that he was considering abolishing the National Unification Council (NUC) and National Unification Guidelines (NUG),deep-Green DPP legislator Trong Chai (Tsai Tong-rong) launched a public attack calling for the replacement of TECRO Representative David Lee for weak advocacy of President Chen,s policy. The reason for this attack was that the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) in Washington had complained to Taipei about Lee,s performance, according to Lo Chih-cheng, Executive Director of the DPP-affiliated Institute for National Policy Research. (Note: Trong Chai was the founding president of FAPA. End Note.) Lo said that while Lee takes a professional non-ideological approach to his work, the Deep Green fundamentalists at home and abroad want Taipei to assign representatives who have an ideological outlook. Foreign Minister James Huang and DPP Legislator Bikhim Hsiao, no friend of Trong Chai, came to Lee,s defense, but according to Lo, Huang,s defense was &tepid.8 ¶3. (S) KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou,s overseas visits are proving a special problem for Taiwan,s senior representatives abroad, many of whom have a KMT background. Lo said he expects the next target of the Deep Green fundamentalists to be Taiwan Representative to the EU C. J. Chen (Cheng Chien-jen),because of his support and participation in Ma's high profile visit to Europe last month. Taiwan's representative in Geneva Shen Lu-hsun sat next to Ma during a briefing for the Taiwan press there on February 9. The photo of the two together was widely carried in Taiwan papers. Probably to avoid a similar situation, Lo noted, the Green-leaning Taiwan Representative to the UK Dr. Edgar Lin departed London on vacation shortly before Ma arrived in the UK. ¶4. (S) Lo stressed that because of his KMT background and the flap over the NUC/NUG issue, David Lee, whom Lo described as a "close friend" of Ma, will have to be especially carefully in handling Ma,s upcoming visit to the U.S. in late March. Lee, Lo explained, is a close personal friend of Ma. ¶5. (S) Comment. The criticism of Lee and Chen fits into a broader suspicion of the Foreign Ministry among Deep and even Light Green adherents. We have heard many tell us that the Foreign Ministry was among the most resistant to direction from the Chen administration when it first assumed office. The international orientation and foreign education common among its senior professional staff also made senior Green leaders, many of whom have little foreign exposure, especially uncomfortable. MOFA officials in turn have made it clear that they do not believe they are trusted by senior political leaders, especially those in the Presidential Office. Several have suggested that the recent allegations of misuse of funds against Victor Chin (Chin Jih-hsin),a MOFA rising star currently serving as Taiwan Representative in New Zealand and formerly Director General of North American Affairs, are being pursued with especial vigor because he is widely perceived as a Blue sympathizer. End TAIPEI 00000795 002.2 OF 002 Comment. KEEGAN