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Diplomats should
choose their words carefully: Yang
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (·¨¶i²K) yesterday urged the nation¡¦s
diplomats to be more judicious and cautious with their words and actions.
¡§I have been telling colleagues at the ministry that they have to behave well,
have sense and walk a fine line all the time,¡¨ Yang said when asked to respond
to a report in yesterday¡¦s -Chinese-language Apple Daily.
Eighty-one members of the nation¡¦s overseas diplomatic missions and
representative offices gathered in Taipei this week for a three-day meeting,
hosted by the ministry.
The Apple Daily reported that during one of the meeting¡¦s sessions on Thursday,
a representative to a country in Africa said that Taiwan should tout the fact
that President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) has been a long-term blood donor and has
offered to donate his body for medical research after his death, which could be
a front on which the country could promote its soft power.
The representative said an article regarding Ma¡¦s record of blood donation and
commitment to organ donation had been placed in a publication issued by the
representative office. The representative also encouraged his colleagues to
follow his example.
The representative was quoted by the Apple Daily as making an analogy between
Ma¡¦s body and that of an ¡§emperor¡¦s¡¨ and said it could be a useful point on
which to promote Taiwan¡¦s soft power.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Lyu-hsun (¨H§f¨µ), criticized the comments
and was quoted by the newspaper as chiding the representative and urging him ¡§to
make sensible suggestions.¡¨
Yang yesterday said the comments offered by the representative were
¡§inappropriate.¡¨
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