FM resigns over aid fiasco: report

The Chinese-language China Times newspaper reported yesterday Ou had twice told President Ma Ying-jeou that he would resign during their meetings last week.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Chen Cheng-ming said Ou had only said that he would shoulder the blame, but “did not mention anything about resigning.”

Presidential spokesman Tony Wang responded to the newspaper report by saying that President Ma and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan will decide the full extent of Cabinet reshuffle in early September.

The ministry has been faulted for sending out a memo to all of its overseas embassies and representative offices, telling them to decline offers of international help for Morakot rescue efforts.

Vice Foreign Minister Andrew Hsia has already submitted his resignation to take what he called full responsibility for the memo, which was sent while he was acting for Ou, who was on an overseas trip.

While Premier Liu has asked Ou to handle Hsia's resignation, the minister has yet to approve it, the China Times said.

Ou was cited by the paper as saying that Hsia had sent the memo based on instructions from the National Security Council, and the ministry is only a scapegoat. But the ministry spokesman dismissed the report as unfounded.

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