The Mainland Affairs Council said on Saturday there are problems with former National Palace Museum Director Feng Ming-chu’s trip to China.
Feng was invited to serve as an unpaid consultant at Beijing’s Palace Museum. Her acceptance of the position is controversial in Taiwan and questions have arisen over the legality.
Taiwanese law stipulates that former political appointees need to obtain government approval to travel to China within three years of leaving office. The law does contain a clause which allows shortening the period depending on the nature of the applicant’s job. Feng maintains that she was able to receive approval to travel after just three months because she was not involved in national security work when she headed the museum.
But a museum spokesperson said that museum staff met to discuss the issue and determined that there were problems with Feng’s application. That’s because Feng had approved the shortened period herself and the document did not have the official museum chop.
The MAC has asked the National Palace Museum to investigate and clarify whether Feng had taken on the posting legally. If not, it said a punishment should be handed out.