TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Foreign policy officials have denied that National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) will replace Alexander Yui (俞大㵢) as Taiwan’s top envoy in the US, reports said Friday.

There has been media speculation that Yui would leave his post to represent Taiwan in Spain, per the Liberty Times. Hsu’s appointment was reportedly mooted to address numerous developing factors in the Taiwan-US relationship, including tariff talks with the Trump administration.

While a personnel change was only likely to be announced once the US had agreed, unnamed foreign policy officials denied that Hsu would replace Yui, per CNA. 

According to media reports, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who previously served as envoy in Washington, had also been considered. However, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) reportedly concluded that his work in Taiwan was too important to move him overseas.

Officials said repeated reports about the change were causing the office in Washington trouble, and should immediately stop.

Hsu is a former deputy foreign minister who graduated from National Taiwan University and Columbia University. He conducted research at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations and Academia Sinica before heading the Center for Contemporary China at National Tsing Hua University.