MAC selects ex-Control Yuan member as SEF chairman

Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday selected Frank Wu (吳豐山), a former Control Yuan member, to succeed acting Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Rock Hsu (許勝雄).

The SEF, a semi-official organization tasked by Taiwan's government with handling technical matters involving China, said in a news release that it will hold a board meeting on Nov. 4 to finalize Wu's appointment.

Hsu assumed the role of acting chairman on July 18, succeeding former Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who resigned as SEF chairman on July 7 amid corruption allegations.

MAC, Taiwan's top government agency handling cross-strait affairs, said in its news release that Wu would lead the SEF team to provide better services to the public and contribute to the positive development of cross-strait relations.

Wu said that upon assuming office, he will work closely with the board and all staff members of SEF to achieve the foundation's objectives, the SEF news release read.

He added that dialogue, exchanges, and peaceful co-prosperity between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are the shared aspirations of people on both sides, looking forward to the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) reciprocating with goodwill to jointly pursue peace across the strait.

The ARATS is China's counterpart to Taiwan's SEF.

The 79-year-old Wu served as a Minister without Portfolio at the Executive Yuan from 2005 to 2007, a Control Yuan member from 2008 to 2014, and spent two stints in the National Assembly, first from 1973 to 1981 and again from 1987 to 1993.

Outside of politics, Wu was editor-in-chief and later president during a 26-year stint at the Independence Evening Post from 1968 to 1994, and chairman of the Public Television Service from 1998 to 2004.