The government has made little progress in its demands that the US release a high-ranking Taiwanese representative arrested on fraud charges because of a disagreement over the scope of immunity enjoyed by Taiwanese diplomats under bilateral agreements, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
The arrest of Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍), director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas, on Thursday by FBI agents for allegedly violating US federal law in the hiring of her Filipino housekeeper sent a shockwave through the government, which lodged a strong protest with the US, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the representative.
“We are still at odds over the scope of immunity, which may be restricted to authorized functions only, and the definition of authorized functions,” said Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the ministry’s Department of North American Affairs.
After the US severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, the two sides signed the Agreement on Privileges, Exemptions and Immunities the following year.
The agreement states that: “Designated employees of each sending counterpart organization shall be immune from suit and legal processes relating to acts performed by them within the scope of their authorized functions.”
“With the agreement, we considered that diplomatic immunity applies to Liu and that Taiwan retains its jurisdiction over its diplomats in the US,” Linghu said.
Taiwan’s representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生), who is in Honolulu, Hawaii, attending the APEC forum meeting, told reporters that Taiwan insisted that the issue be dealt with through diplomatic channels because Liu enjoys diplomatic immunity.
Liu remained in custody yesterday pending a federal detention hearing on Wednesday.
Asked about the US Department of State’s position, American Institute in Taiwan spokesman Christopher Kavanagh said by telephone that all questions regarding the case “have to go to the US Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri,” which is in charge of the case.
Kavanagh said the agreement only extends to official authorized functions.
Former representative to the US Chen Chien-jen (程建人), who attended the negotiations on the agreement in 1980, said it was modeled after Article 31 of the Vienna Convention, which applies to countries with diplomatic ties.
“Despite some differences in wording between Article 31 of the Vienna Convention and the agreement, basically, Taiwanese diplomats enjoy the same diplomatic privileges the US grants to employees of international organizations,” Chen said.
Chen urged the US to sit down with Taiwan to discuss their disagreements over “the scope of authorized functions,” because the article itself “has plenty of room for interpretation.”
“Taiwan and the US have a friendly relationship. The US State Department should have told Taiwan about the case. There are many ways to talk about the matter, and the FBI just acted in a blunt way,” Chen said.
A Central News Agency report yesterday said that “NBC cited Cynthia Cordes, the prosecutor in charge of the case, as saying that as the US does not recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan, Liu does not qualify for diplomatic immunity.”
Linghu dismissed the reported statement, saying that if someone had said this, it was because of a “lack of understanding of the situation.”
“Despite a lack of diplomatic relations, the Agreement on Privileges, Exemptions and Immunities shall be abided by,” he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday stressed the nation’s sovereignty following Liu’s arrest and instructed the ministry to conduct negotiations while protecting the rights of foreign representatives.
Although the nation has no diplomatic ties with the US, Washington should treat Taiwan as a foreign government in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) signed in 1979, Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) quoted Ma as saying.
The spirit and content of the regulations concerning diplomatic privileges and immunity signed by Taipei and Washington in the 1980s also granted foreign representatives the same privileges as diplomats, he said.
Commenting on the matter, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that according to the TRA and other related agreements, Taiwanese diplomats should have diplomatic immunity and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should do everything possible to negotiate with the US as the issue concerns the nation’s sovereignty.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Rich Chang
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
RSS