Taipei, July 4 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen has recently appointed seven ambassadors-at-large from a variety of backgrounds to help promote Taiwan's diplomacy, the Presidential Office said Tuesday.
They are all outstanding figures in areas such as environmental sustainability, public health, digital opportunities, the empowerment of women, sports and culture, said Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin.
It is hoped that the ambassadors-at-large will contribute their expertise in these different fields to help promote the country's diplomacy, Lin said.
The ambassadors-at-large include Kuo Hsu-sung, former director-general of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Centers for Disease Control; Former Foreign Minister Eugene Chien, who is currently chairman of the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy; Chen Chung-shin, former head of the Environmental Protection Administration; and Chen Jen-ran, an independent director on Chunghwa Telecom's board of directors.
The others are Jan Hung-tze, chairman of PChome Online Inc.; Fan Yun, an associate professor at National Taiwan University's Department of Sociology; and Chi Cheng, an Olympic medalist and one of Taiwan's greatest athletes, who also serves as a national policy advisor to the president, according to a notice on the website of the Presidential Office.
The two-year term for the new ambassadors-at-large will last until June 14, 2019, the notice said.
The Organization Act of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stipulates that ambassadors-at-large without remuneration can be appointed if necessary. They are tasked with helping the government promote relations with other countries.
