Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Hsia (夏立言) yesterday rejected criticism from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that the ministry granted movie director Liu Jia-chang (劉家昌) special privileges by issuing him a passport within a few hours.
Liu and his wife, Chang Chia-chen (章家珍), released on bail last Friday shortly after their return to Taiwan earlier the same day, left for Hong Kong after receiving a temporary passport from the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the airport on Tuesday night. Earlier on Tuesday, the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office granted Liu’s request to have the travel ban against him lifted so that he could travel to Hong Kong for a concert.
The couple have been on the nation’s wanted list since May 2007 on suspicion of embezzling funds from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Lawmakers yesterday criticized the ministry for issuing Liu a passport within few hours of his travel ban being lifted.
During the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting yesteday, DPP lawmakers said the ministry had expedited the couple’s application because of the influence of “certain lawmakers.”
They did not name them.
Hsia denied the allegation, saying that Liu and his wife had been issued passports in line with ministry regulations.
In accordance with the bureau’s passport issuance procedures, applicants usually receive their passports four days after filing an application. However, those who would like to receive their passport sooner can pay a fee of between NT$300 and NT$900 to speed up the process.
Hsia said it was customary for the ministry to issue passports to those who were in urgent need to leave the country within two hours after they filed applications at the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ office at the airport.
“For example, we may also issue passports to those who need to leave immediately for meetings abroad,” Hsia said.
“How can making arrangements for a concert be a good reason to allow a man on the wanted list to get a passport to leave the country?” DPP Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) asked.
Later yesterday, Bureau of Consular Affairs Director-General Lo Yu-chung (羅由中) said at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Liu had not received any preferential treatment.
Lo said because Liu was already in the process of applying for a normal e-passport and the travel restrictions against him had been lifted, “it was his constitutional right” to obtain a passport.
When repeatedly asked by reporters how Liu explained why he needed a passport in such a hurry and why customs officials did not instruct him to return to the bureau the next day to pick up his travel document, Lo said that “all ROC {Republic of China] citizens are entitled to apply for a passport without having to present a specific reason.”
Lo reiterated that Liu went through the normal process and paid an expedition fee, so he was entitled to a passport as soon as the travel ban against him was lifted.
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