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Representative office in France helps detained Taiwanese businesspeople

Taiwan's representative office in France has taken action over an incident involving two Taiwanese travelers who were strip-searched and detained by French aviation police for holding new and old Taiwanese passports.

On their way from Paris to London on Aug. 18, two staff members of a Taipei County-based high-tech company were flagged as "suspicious" by British Airways because they held two different Taiwanese passports -- one bearing the name Taiwan on its cover and the other without.

The carrier refused to allow the two men to board and sent them to French aviation police at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, where they were strip-searched and detained for two days.

IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE

Taiwan's Representative to France, Michel Lu (呂慶龍), said on Friday that immediately after receiving a call for help on Aug. 20 from the employer of the two men, the representative office asked French aviation police and British Airways to clarify details of the incident and specify the reason for the treatment.

CLARIFICATIONS

The office also notified the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs again that since the launch of new passports bearing the name Taiwan on the cover in 2003, both new and old Taiwanese passports are valid.

Lu suggested that Taiwanese travelers carry telephone numbers of representative offices abroad with them so that they can reach the offices for timely assistance and emergency relief.
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