By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday appointed his long-time aide Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀) as the party’s secretary-general while also making former representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) the head of the DPP’s policy-making body.
The appointments — Su’s first since the former premier took over the party helm on May 27 — also included three deputy secretary-generals: former Pingtung County legislator Lin Yu-shen (林育生), who is close to Su; former Tainan County lawmaker Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) and former DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) told a press conference.
A long-time colleague of Su’s, Lin Hsi-yao served for five years as deputy commissioner in Taipei County — now known as New Taipei City (新北市) — when Su was the county commissioner between 1997 and 2004. Lin served as the county’s acting commissioner between 2004 and 2005.
The decision to appoint Wu as director of the DPP’s Policy Research Committee has raised eyebrows and it appears to reflect Su’s intention to improve ties with Washington, Beijing and pro-independence forces within the DPP.
Wu — now a researcher at National Cheng Chi University’s Institute of International Relations — has wide experience handling cross-strait and Taiwan-US relations during DPP administrations and served as chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council between 2004 and 2007. He was Taiwan’s representative to the US between 2007 and 2008.
Su has also made efforts to divide power among major party factions with the appointments of deputy secretary-generals Lee, who is close to former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Yu-chang Lin.
Su has sought to nominate the best possible candidates for the positions, Wang said.
More appointments are expected to be unveiled at the Central Standing Committee meeting tomorrow, Wang said.