In what the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is portraying as a breach of diplomatic protocol, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday night was allegedly forced to hail a taxi from his hotel after Taiwanese foreign affairs officials accompanying him supposedly failed to provide transportation.
According to an account from the DPP, halfway through a dinner party organized by several DPP officials on Yijiang Street in Taipei on Sunday, Abe was escorted back by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials to the Ambassador Hotel, where he was staying, for a press conference with Japanese media. At about 10:30pm, when the press conference wrapped up, Abe sought to return to the restaurant. By that time, however, the DPP and witnesses at the restaurant claim that Abe, a bodyguard and a member of the Japanese Diet accompanying him, had to hail a cab from the hotel’s main entrance, as the transportation provided by the ministry had vanished.
“We couldn’t believe [Abe] was left without a car,” said Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), director of International Affairs for the DPP and one of the attendees at the dinner party. “If we had known he planned to come back this way, we would have sent a car as a matter of courtesy.”
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Abe’s dinner hosts did not know he had to take a cab until after a Japanese representative casually mentioned that the former prime minister had hailed a cab to return to the restaurant, DPP officials told the Taipei Times.
Witnesses at the scene included DPP legislators Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Chen Ying (陳瑩), who yesterday accused the ministry of -“impoliteness and incompetence.”
This was an embarrassing incident, they said, adding that this explained why government officials were seeking to downplay the episode.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs just didn’t care about them,” Chiu said, referring to Abe and his entourage. “During this trip, the government showed that not only was it capable of ignoring common etiquette and courtesy, but also Abe’s security.”
Hsiao claims Abe was similarly left without a diplomatic courtesy car after the dinner party concluded and had to be driven back to the Ambassador Hotel by DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen’s (吳乃仁) driver in his private sedan.
Hsiao, who said she was in the car along with one of Abe’s bodyguards during the trip back to the hotel, said Abe was “very polite” throughout the incident and did not once mention it.
The version of events provided by the DPP could not be independently confirmed, and calls to Abe’s office were not returned by press time, while the Japanese Interchange Foundation, Japan’s de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties, would not comment.
The ministry, which organized Abe’s itinerary, denies this version of the story and maintains that a medium-sized van was provided at all times during Abe’s two-day visit.
Abe was initially provided two courtesy cars, a medium-sized van as well as a police escort, but ministry officials claim he waved those away on Sunday night and insisted he only needed the van for his personal visits with DPP politicians.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman James Chang (章計平) said that at no point during his visit did Abe find himself without transportation, adding that the ministry had no information about his being forced to travel by taxi on Sunday.
Chang said the driver of a medium-sized bus arranged by the ministry left the Ambassador Hotel at about 11pm after Japanese officials said Abe no longer needed it.
“Given that our guest did not request us to arrange a meeting with [the DPP] before and after he arrived [in Taiwan], we had no information about his personal activities and knew nothing about the taxi,” he said.
Chang said Abe was transferred from a limousine provided by the ministry to the van at about 9pm on Sunday after a banquet hosted by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) at the Presidential Office.
Former government leaders on visits to Taiwan are routinely afforded the same level of security used for visiting heads of state. During former US president Bill Clinton’s visit to Taiwan in February 2005, his motorcade was protected by police and trailed by US and Taiwanese bodyguards.
Compounding the issue, DPP lawmakers said the treatment afforded Abe, who was prime minister between 2006 and 2007, contrasted sharply with that of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in December.
Chen and his wife, both staying at the landmark Grand Hotel, were escorted in a motorcade, including a black limousine and half a dozen police cars during his five-day visit. Thousands of police officers were mobilized for the controversial visit.
DPP lawmakers also claim that the ministry failed to provide transportation for the 10-plus members of the Diet who were also attending the dinner party on Sunday.
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