Taiwanese Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) returned to Taiwan last night amid ongoing tensions with the US over its arrest of a senior representative allegedly involved in foreign labor fraud.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) told reporters Yuan’s return was “absolutely irrelevant” to the case of Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍), the director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Kansas City, Missouri.
“It’s not a recall,” Yang said, adding it had been decided early that Yuan would travel back to Taiwan to brief the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on important issues between Taiwan and the US after he attended the just-concluded APEC meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Liu has been held incommunicado since Thursday last week when she was handcuffed by FBI agents, who Yang said “waited in ambush” outside the ladies’ room in the office building where TECO is located.
On the same day of her arrest, the US Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri, which is in charge of the case, announced that Liu had been charged with fraud for fraudulently obtaining a Filipino housekeeper for her residence.
The charge was based on a six-page affidavit presented by the FBI, which included statements by three TECO officials that corroborated the allegations that the housekeeper was underpaid, mistreated, forced to work long hours and had her passport confiscated by Liu.
Since her arrest, the ministry had remained firm that Liu was entitled to diplomatic immunity in the case, but it appeared to back away from that position yesterday.
On Friday last week, the ministry lodged a stern protest with the US over the arrest, saying it “violated the 1980 Agreement on Privileges, Exemptions and Immunities” signed by the two countries and demanded the “immediate and unconditional” release of Liu.
However, Yang yesterday said that immunity might not apply because of a disagreement between the US and Taiwan over the scope of immunity covered under the agreement, which was signed following Washington’s severing of diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979.
“We will continue to negotiate with the US over the scope of immunity, but it will take time. Overall, we are looking for solutions that the three parties [the US, Taiwan and Liu] can agree upon to solve the case as soon as possible,” Yang said.
Officials at the US Department of State have said anonymously that Liu would not be eligible for immunity for actions not performed “within the scope of [her] authorized functions,” as stipulated in the agreement.
“We understand we were at odds with the US in this regard,” Yang said.
A detention hearing was scheduled for 9:30am yesterday at the US Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City to determine whether to continue Liu’s detention and whether she would face criminal charges for her actions.
As of press time, the decision was still unknown.
Asked by reporters in Kansas City before the hearing, James Wirken, Liu’s attorney, said the best solution would be an outright dismissal of the case.
“There might be a resolution where everybody would agree to live with something. There is a possibility of [a] plea, there is a possibility for restitution, there is a possibility of probation, there is a possibility of deportation — all those are on the table,” Wirken said.
Asked why the ministry backtracked from its initial demand that the US release Liu without any conditions, Yang said the ministry reacted strongly at the time because Liu was treated “roughly” when she was arrested.
“It wasn’t just me. None of our nationals accepted that [Liu’s alleged treatment by the FBI],” Yang said.
Washington did not inform Taipei of the FBI’s actions through diplomatic channels until the American Institute of Taiwan sent a letter to Yuan after Liu’s arrest.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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