The widow of a former diplomat to Japan, who committed suicide in September after his office had come under fire for its handling of stranded Taiwanese tourists due to a typhoon, on Thursday denied that false information drove her husband to take his own life, saying that it was instead “anticipated humiliation” by his superiors.
In a statement issued through Eastern Broadcasting Co (EBC, 東森電視), the wife of Su Chii-cherng (蘇啟誠), who was director-general of the Osaka branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office until his death on Sept. 14, said that only family members had read Su’s suicide note, which did not mention pressure caused by fake news.
“Rather, he committed suicide after finishing a reflection report ordered by his superiors and on the eve of a work meeting to defend his honor, leaving behind a note saying that he ‘does not want to be humiliated,’” said Su’s wife, who did not make her name public.
Screengrab from the Internet
She was referring to a meeting originally scheduled for Sept. 15 between the nation’s six branch offices in Japan to discuss how to revise their emergency response protocols.
She said that she felt the need to go public because some politicians and news outlets have purposefully misled the public at the expense of Su’s reputation following a district court’s decision earlier this month to dismiss charges against a student who was accused of spreading misinformation that fueled public criticism of Su’s office.
The student in September posted a message on social media saying that the Chinese embassy had sent 15 tour buses to evacuate its citizens and Taiwanese who were stranded at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport due to flooding from Typhoon Jebi.
At the time, Su’s office had also been accused of refusing to help a stranded Taiwanese tourist find accommodation.
The false information was believed to have contributed to his death, as Japan Broadcasting Corp reported on the day of his death that a note left by him suggested that he had been in pain because of overwhelming public criticism over his office’s handling of the stranded tourists.
In an interview with EBC that aired on Thursday, Su’s wife said that there was no direct link between the false information and her husband’s death, because what he found “unbearable” was the possibility of him being recalled to Taiwan.
An article published by the Chinese-language Apple Daily late on Thursday cited “internal government information” as saying that the reason for Su’s suicide was a 20-minute telephone call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sept. 13 informing him that he would be transferred back to Taiwan with a minor demerit and that his office’s staff would all receive a “C” performance rating.
However, the ministry yesterday said in a news release that it had not planned punitive measures against Su and his staff as reported by the media, adding that the telephone call did not happen.
“Punitive measures are only meted out after the liability of concerned parties is ascertained... That process had not been completed for the case in question at the time,” the ministry said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday urged Control Yuan members to launch an investigation into the issue, and called on the ministry to disclose the truth and for responsible parties to step down.
In a Facebook post that listed seven points as well as text messages that Su sent to his friend Wang Hui-sheng (王輝生), Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said that “it is likely true that [Su] agonized over the fake news.”
Hsieh added that he would file suit against former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) for saying that the “Democratic Progressive Party government and Hsieh are the ones who drove Su to his death.”
Additional reporting by Chen Yun and Peng Wan-hsin
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS