Two months ago, one of our staff members sent a document to the Taiwan Representative Office (TRO) in the UK to be notarized for use here in Taiwan. The office managed to put the necessary chop on the document, but forgot the validating countersignature. When the document was returned it was useless, and the process had to be gone through all over again.
We retell this admittedly trifling anecdote only to point out that when it comes to doing the most basic task properly, the TRO in London leaves a lot to be desired. The many procedural lapses involved in the issuing of a passport to the wife of fugitive arms dealer Andrew Wang (
But it seems a remarkable coincidence that whenever Wang or one of his family members seems to need the aid of Taiwan's authorities abroad, they receive it, including a power of attorney certified in Geneva in 2001 and another certified in London last year. Are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its employees overseas really this incompetent, or is there a darker motive behind MOFA's acting as Wang's fairy godmother? Is this facilitation of Wang's evasion of justice deliberate? And to what extent is it seen as expedient?
Let us remember that, though it is in connection with Yin Ching-feng's (
This vast sum is enough to buy an entire government, and perhaps that is just what it did. Given that many of those still in the bureaucracy are still the retainers of the KMT ancien regime or are beholden to such patrons, it is reasonable to wonder if these oversights regarding the peripatetic Wang are not just the visible tips of a vast conspiracy.
The Control Yuan last week said that diplomats Lily Hsu (
We remember that when Chen Shui-bian (
At least one reason for this lack of progress might be that on coming to power Chen learned of the scandal's true extent, and also that it involved figures which it was in his political interest to protect.
We are not making any accusations here; rather, we are saying that, given the huge extent of the corruption, as suggested by the enormous US$400 million figure, this is one obvious interpretation of what we see.
Our message to the president is: Persuade us it isn't so.
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