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Wang fails quiz on Chinese leaders
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Mo Yan-chih / Staff reporters
Democratic Progressive Party
Legislator Tsai Chi-chang asks newly appointed Mainland Affairs Council Minister
Wang Yu-chi to identify photographs of Chinese government leaders during a
question-and-answer session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Newly appointed Council of Mainland
Affairs Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) came in for a bit of an embarrassment
yesterday after he recognized only two of the nine men on the Chinese Communist
Party’s (CCP) Political Standing Committee of the Central Committee in an
extemporaneous quiz at the legislature.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) questioned Wang’s
knowledge of Chinese affairs during a question-and-answer session, displaying
pictures of the nine bureau members, who effectively rule China, and asking him
who they were.
Wang only recognized Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Hu’s heir apparent,
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is expected take over as party
secretary during the 18th party congress next month and as president next year.
When the picture of CCP Political Consultative Conference chairman Jia Qinglin
(賈慶林) was shown, the 43-year-old Wang, standing at the podium, was completely
baffled.
Premier Sean Chen, seated in his chair in the left side of the legislative
chamber, was spotted saying it was Jia.
“This is Wu Bangguo (吳邦國),” Tsai said when Wang was unable to reply promptly,
adding: “Who is he? Jia Qinglin. You don’t even know him? These nine people are
the souls of the CCP. I assumed that you would know at least three of them, but
you know only two. You don’t even know Jia Qinglin. That really surprises me.”
Wang defended himself by saying: “It takes some time [to recognize the
individuals].”
Just prior to the legislative session, Wang formally took over from his
predecessor, Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), at a handover ceremony, where he said he was
not unfamiliar with cross-strait affairs.
“When I served as spokesperson of the Presidential Office and as an advisory
member of the National Security Council, I often took part in the
decision-making for policies on cross-strait issues and diplomacy,” Wang said at
the ceremony.
Wang said he was familiar with cross-strait affairs despite lacking experience
in the area, and said he would push forward cross-strait policies in a practical
and stable manner.
“Cross-strait affairs under the council are not strange to me and I will
continue to push forward policies that put the public’s interests as top
priority,” he said.
The appointment of Wang by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last month sparked
criticism that he has no foreign relations experience and he had been picked
just because he was a close confidant of Ma.
The pan-green camp says the appointment of Wang, and that of former Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) secretary-general Lin Join-sane (林中森) as Straits
Exchange Foundation chairman, will complicate Taiwan’s cross-strait affairs and
negotiations by putting a pair of inexperienced officials in charge.
Meanwhile, Lai, who is now the nation’s representative to the WTO, defended her
efforts to help reinstate cross-strait negotiations and promote cross-strait
exchanges during her term as head of the Mainland Affairs Council.
She also dismissed concerns about her political affiliations as a former member
of the pan-green Taiwan Solidarity Union before joining the Ma administration
four years ago.
“What matters is to use his or her expertise and push for the development of the
nation. Whether one belonged to the pan-blue or pan-green camps is not an
issue,” she said.
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