Sat, Apr 01, 2006 page4

• Envoy to US restricted by Taiwan's unofficial status

  • By Charles Snyder / STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
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  For Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the US, David Lee (李大維), it has been a difficult few weeks.

  President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) Feb. 27 announcement that he planned to do away with the National Unification Council sent US-Taiwan relations into a tizzy, requiring Lee to work overtime as an intermediary to solve the problem.

  No sooner was that incident settled when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) arrived in the US, with another surprise for Washington: his cross-strait policy package proposal aimed, essentially, at gaining US support for his likely 2008 presidential run.

  The Feb. 27 Chen proposal put enormous strain on Lee to act as an intermediary to defuse what could have been an explosive situation -- one that could seriously affect US-Taiwan relations at a time that the beleaguered administration of US President George W. Bush wanted no crises to come in the way of its Iraq-centered foreign policy.

  The Ma visit presented a completely different challenge.

  Normally, when any high-level Taiwanese official visits Washington, Lee is automatically invited in.

  Because of the arcane rules governing US-Taiwan interactions, meetings do not happen in normal places such as the State Department, White House or the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, which Lee heads.

  In the case of Ma, his meeting with US officials happened at a private downtown club, a venue used in the past for such encounters.

  As such, the meeting was considered a "private" one under the murky rules covering US-Taiwan bilateral exchanges. While the US side sorely wanted Lee to attend, Ma's people strongly objected. Since it was a "private" meeting, the US officials were technically guests and Ma's demands had to be met.

  Lee could not attend.

  What followed was a chorus of Taipei politicians demanding Lee's removal for not attending the meeting.

  In fact, there was nothing he could do. Washington is an extremely difficult place to do business, especially for a representative of a territory subject to the convoluted US-Taiwan diplomatic environment. He is bound by everybody else's wishes. Lee is a brilliant diplomat, and it would be hard to find somebody to do his job better than he does it.

  As Lee sat among six visiting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators at a press conference on Thursday during their annual visit to Washington, the strain was clear on his face. His normal cheerful mien was replace by a gaunt figure with sunken jowls.

  That was an improvement on the day before, according to people who had seen him then, when calls for his dismissal arose, and Lee spoke to Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳).

  At the time, Lee also spoke to some Taiwanese reporters, saying he would be willing to step down if asked. There were two things essential for an envoy, he explained: The support of his government and the respect of the host government. If either one was lost, he would have to resign, he said.

  Approached by the Taipei Times on Thursday, Lee declined to say anything more.

  But members of the DPP delegation voiced their support for Lee and related that there was support for him among US officials.

  "US officials said they complimented him very much," delegation leader Charles Chiang (江昭儀) told the Taipei Times.

  There was "no substance" to the calls for Lee's dismissal, Chiang said. "US officials here say he has done the job well."

  Despite the US' accession to Ma's demand to bar Lee, the US side was "very sorry to Ambassador Lee," delegation member Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said.

  US officials told the legislators that Ma had not learned any secrets.

  "They would not tell Ma anything we don't know," Lai said.
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