Taipei sends US experts to diplomatic front line to ward off hostile Beijing
Taiwanese president picks new foreign and defence chiefs as she seeks closer contact with the United States
Taiwan has appointed two men well-versed in American affairs to top security and foreign relations jobs as the island tries to engage the US in its grand strategy to counter military intimidation from the mainland.
The appointments were part of a partial shake-up of the island’s cabinet, which saw the replacement of heads of the foreign, defence, mainland, labour and veterans’ affairs ministries.
Presidential Office chief Joseph Wu, 64, will be sworn in as foreign minister on Monday, taking over from David Lee, 69, who has been named secretary general of the National Security Council.
Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung said that all but one of the appointments were decided by President Tsai Ing-wen, who is in charge of foreign, mainland affairs and military policy.
Labour Minister Lin Mei-chu was stepping down because of illness, Hsu said.
Wu completed his doctorate in political science at Ohio State University in 1989 and was a professor at Soochow University in Taipei before former president Chen Shui-bian appointed him head of the Mainland Affairs Council – Taiwan’s top cross-strait body – in 2004.