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Updated Saturday, May 9, 2009 9:34 am TWN, The China Post news staff



	P.K. Chiang, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, left, welcomes President Ma Ying-jeou, second from right. Ma met Chiang, yesterday, to persuade the latter to stay on as SEF chairman. (CNA) Enlarge Photo

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Chiang is staying

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- President Ma Ying-jeou made P. K. Chiang change his mind and stay on as chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation yesterday.

Ma did so by meeting Chiang at the SEF on return from a whirlwind visit to Chiayi, where he attended ceremonies opening a Yoichi Hatta memorial park.

Hatta built what was known as Kanan-taishu (Chianan Great Reservoir) between 1920 and 1930 to provide irrigation water for tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in the Chiayi-Tainan plain in southern Taiwan under Japanese colonial control.

It is now called the Wushantou Reservoir.

Chiang welcomed the president who arrived at 5 p.m. to laud the good work the SEF has done over the past year.

“That's the purpose of the President in visiting the SEF,” Ma's spokesman Tony Wang told the press. “He wasn't there to persuade Dr. Chiang to stay on,” he announced.

The SEF chairman tendered his resignation on Monday, which was perfunctorily rejected. Ma had Chiang's letter of resignation with a remark urging his change of mind returned to the SEF on Wednesday.

In response, Chiang reiterated his determination to quit on May 26 with or without Ma's approval. He said he wanted to retire because of age, but the real reason is that he believes he has lost Ma's trust. He went on the record by saying he wasn't going to be persuaded.

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