TAIPEI: Taiwan's foreign affairs chief reportedly has offered his resignation, after coming under fierce criticism for refusing overseas aid, as the island lay devastated in the wake of Typhoon Morakot.

The report in The China Times, citing unnamed sources, says Francisco Ou verbally tendered his resignation to Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou during a routine briefing on Monday.

Ma's office declined to comment on the report.

If the report proves accurate, Ou would become the fourth senior official to offer to quit as public fury grows over what is widely viewed as the government's slow response to the deadly typhoon.

"Cabinet" Secretary General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan aroused public wrath after angrily justifying his dinner with his family at a five-star hotel on August 8, the day Morakot struck. Hsueh said it was Father's Day in Taiwan and "not out of line".

Defence chief Chen Chao-min came under fire for deploying too few troops during the initial days of the rescue operation while Ou's deputy Andrew Hsia was blamed for a decision, later overturned, to refuse overseas aid.

Responding to media enquiries regarding the report yesterday, "Presidential Office" spokesman Wang Yu-chi stressed that Ma and "Premier" Liu Chao-shiuan will make the "Cabinet" reshuffle decisions in early September and urged the media not to speculate before that.

"Ministry of Foreign Affairs" spokesman Henry Chen said much of the report is not accurate.

He said Ou has expressed willingness to take responsibility for the incident when meeting Liu and Ma in the past days, but he has not tendered his resignation.

Morakot was the worst-ever typhoon to strike Taiwan, Ma has said, adding the scale of the damage was more severe than a 1959 typhoon that killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.

AFP

(HK Edition 08/27/2009 page2)