TAIPEI – The appointments of Taiwan’s next foreign minister and national security council head have caused a stir – not because of who are set to take the jobs but because of who made the announcements.

On April 16, outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen introduced her senior aide, Mr Lin Chia-lung, as Taiwan’s new top diplomat, in remarks delivered to a visiting New Zealand parliamentary delegation in Taipei.

Incumbent Foreign Minister Joseph Wu will become the secretary-general of the National Security Council, she added, in a departure from the practice of such announcements being made by the incoming government.

Local media outlets zeroed in on Mr Lin’s face at the event and described his reaction as “startled” by the “sudden” announcement. Mr Wu, however, “remained expressionless”.

A Presidential Office spokesperson said any new government appointments would be confirmed by President-elect Lai Ching-te’s team.

Opposition politicians have queried Ms Tsai’s intentions and her relationship with Mr Lai, her current Vice-President, who is set to be formally inaugurated on May 20. 

“Tsai is still too deeply involved in national security issues – there’s the possibility that she will continue to wield her influence from behind the scenes,” lawmaker Ma Wen-chun of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) told reporters in a recorded video clip.

Fellow KMT legislator Luo Chih-chiang said Ms Tsai’s move should be interpreted as undermining Mr Lai and that their relationship “requires further observation”. 

For years, critics have fuelled talk of infighting within the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and surmised that the two leaders are not on good terms, especially after Mr Lai made the stunning decision to challenge Ms Tsai for the party’s nomination in the 2020 presidential election.

But analysts said it was more likely that Mr Lai was on board with Ms Tsai’s decision to announce these key personnel picks, and the move was meant to signal that he would make good on his repeated promises to continue her foreign policies.

“Tsai was reading off a document, so it couldn’t have been a slip of the tongue. She must have discussed it with Lai first,” said Professor Yeh Yao-yuan, a Taiwan and East Asia studies expert at the University of St Thomas in Houston in the US. 

“There’s been some uncertainty over how Lai will manage foreign relations, but Tsai is neutralising those concerns. She’s saying, ‘it’s going to be the same team in slightly different capacities, so don’t worry’,” he said. 

Prof Yeh also said this would be well-received in Washington, whose ties with Taipei have strengthened under Ms Tsai’s leadership. 

“Having a national security and foreign policy team that is essentially a reshuffling of people from the current administration will reassure the US that Lai will not rock the boat too much,” he said.

While Mr Lin is seen as lacking in foreign policy experience, his circumspection in politics could make him well-suited for his new role, experts said.

But Beijing, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, has a deep distrust of Mr Lai and his Vice-President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim, and has labelled them both as “separatists”. 

“Beijing will keep trying to convince Taipei’s few remaining diplomatic allies to switch ties to them, so Lin is not going to have an easy job going forward,” said Associate Professor Chen Shih-min, a political scientist at National Taiwan University. 

“But he’s known to be a competent administrator and has also never made any strong pro-independence remarks in the past, so he can be seen as a relatively safe choice for foreign minister,” he added.

Mr Lin has held several high-level positions before, including as an adviser to the National Security Council in the early 2000s under then President Chen Shui-bian. 

The 60-year-old also served as minister of transportation and communications from 2019 to 2021 and, before that, as mayor of Taichung, one of Taiwan’s largest cities.

Prior to his appointment as Ms Tsai’s aide in January 2023, he was ambassador-at-large in charge of promoting Ms Tsai’s digital New Southbound Policy initiatives, which promote exchanges between Taiwan and 18 countries across South-east Asia, South Asia and Australasia.

Meanwhile, moving the current foreign minister to head the National Security Council sends an even stronger message of continuity, analysts said. 

“Joseph Wu has worked with Tsai for a very long time, and knows everything about her policies. With him set to advise Lai on national security policies, it means that Lai is determined to follow Tsai’s path – at least, when it comes to national security and foreign affairs,” said Prof Chen.

There may be room for shake-ups on the domestic policy front, however.

At a press conference on April 16 to announce some of Mr Lai’s Cabinet members, Premier-designate Cho Jung-tai tapped political novices to head key economic and social development posts. 

Mr J. W. Kuo, the 71-year-old billionaire who is now chairman of semiconductor product distributor Topco Group, is set to replace Ms Wang Mei-hua as the new economic affairs minister.

Mr Paul Liu, 61, former chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Consulting Services Taiwan Ltd, has been named the new head of the National Development Council, which oversees social development and public construction projects.

“Tsai has strong public support when it comes to foreign policies, but much less so for some of her domestic policies. It makes sense that Lai would want to introduce some new faces to tackle more domestic issues,” said Prof Chen.

The DPP is expected to confirm other positions for the incoming Cabinet later in April.