William Stanton, former deputy chief of mission to the US embassy in Seoul, South Korea, has been appointed new director of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan.
Stanton is one of the most controversial figures ever to get the job and his appointment may lead to new legislation being introduced in Congress demanding that all future candidates for AIT director go through a Senate confirmation like ambassadors do.
The State Department is authorized under the Taiwan Relations Act to make the appointment without oversight.
Stanton’s name first surfaced months ago at the top of the list of potential candidates to take over from outgoing AIT Director Stephen Young, who is retiring.
Congressional sources said that complaints had been made against Stanton when he was a senior official at the Beijing embassy for being overly pro-Chinese, saying that he blocked reports that reflected badly on China from being sent to Washington.
In April, Stanton was alleged to have made highly insensitive comments about two US journalists — Taiwanese-American Laura Ling (凌志美) and Korean-American Euna Lee — who were arrested by North Korean authorities on charges they illegally entered the country.
A memorandum that circulated around the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said Stanton told a group of young congressional staff members visiting the embassy in Seoul that the women were “stupid” and that their case was “distracting from bigger issues.”
Last month, both women were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor and US President Barack Obama has become personally involved in trying to win their freedom.
Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has since said that she favors Senate confirmation for the position of director of the American Institute in Taiwan and is expected to introduce such legislation in the near future. She was not available for comment on Wednesday.
But in a clear reference to Stanton she said last month: “Not only has there been controversy about certain past directors, but my understanding is that the current leading candidate for that position made insensitive remarks about our two US citizens in North Korea sentenced only yesterday to years in the North Korean gulag, referring to them as ‘stupid.’ Is this the kind of representation we want in such a critical posting as Taipei?”
Following Ros-Lehtinen’s remarks, the Taipei Times was told that Stanton was no longer at the top of the list to be the new director and it seems that a final decision was not made until the last minute.
As recently as last Friday, it was reported that Young had very strongly indicated that no final decision had yet been made on his replacement.
The Central News Agency reported that Young said the authorities were “very close” to picking his successor and that when a decision was made it would be announced from Washington.
The formal announcement of Stanton’s appointment said he would take over in Taipei next month.
Born in New Jersey, Stanton was educated at Fordham University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Prior to his job in Seoul, he served both as charge d’affaires ad interim and as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Canberra, Australia.
Stanton is married to Foreign Service Officer Karen Clark Stanton and they have two daughters.
Commenting on Stanton’s appointment yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it welcomed the appointment and it believed the new AIT director would fully reflect the Obama administration’s support for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policies.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS