Taiwanese intelligence agents will not appear in court to testify in the FBI's espionage case against former US State Department official Donald Keyser, the nation's top envoy to Washington said on Sunday.
David Lee (李大維) said it was "impossible" that Taiwanese intelligence agents would be required to testify before the US court because they are entitled to diplomatic immunity.
Lee made the comments at a reception for the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra in response to reporters' questions.
Lee said Taipei and Washington had been in close communication since news of Taiwan's possible involvement in the Keyser case broke, and that the US understood that Taiwan would not have done anything illegal.
It was understood that although the FBI was actively pursuing the case in order to bring espionage charges against Keyser, the US administration did not wish to see the case cause any unnecessary political strain between Taipei and Washington.
The FBI has re-opened Keyser's case and is seeking to withdraw a plea bargain it offered him last December as the agency uncovered new evidence suggesting that the former official had been dishonest with investigators.
Keyser was arrested by the FBI in September 2004 after having lunch at a suburban Washington restaurant with Isabelle Cheng Nian-tzu (
The FBI recently released a 43-page memo that contains details of the relationship between Keyser and Cheng, alleging that the two had an affair.
The FBI claims that Cheng received numerous cables and e-mail messages from Keyser containing confidential details of US policy toward Taiwan, which she forwarded to the National Security Bureau headquarters in Taipei.
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