Foreign Minister David Lee said Thursday that Antonio Chiang will take up his post as Taiwan’s representative to Singapore as planned.
Chiang had only just been sworn in as Taiwan’s new envoy to Singapore on Tuesday morning. Later the same day he was caught driving under the influence of alcohol. Amid calls for Chiang’s appointment to be revoked, Lee called the incident regrettable but said that Chiang will go ahead and take up his post.
Lee said, "We have already notified Singapore’s representative office in Taiwan of the latest incident. From my understanding, the office has already reported the case to the Singaporean government. Chiang’s itinerary remains unchanged. Chiang and the Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs will continue working to make the trip successful."
Chiang has already issued an apology to the foreign ministry and the public. Meanwhile, the Presidential Office went on record to say that Chiang had set a bad example.
A renowned political analyst, Chiang was deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council from 2000 to 2004 under former president Chen Shui-bian.