Taiwan’s representative office in Fiji, under fire over allegations of sexual assault by a senior official, was rocked again yesterday by an allegation that another top diplomat had misused public funds for dinners with a “mistress.”
Representative to Fiji Victor Chin (秦日新) used public funds to pay for about 20 dates with a Japanese diplomat stationed in the South Pacific island nation, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) alleged.
Citing telephone and public expense records, Gao said the married envoy had also used diplomatic funding to reimburse himself for phone calls twice a day to a secretary at the Japanese embassy.
“The two have had 10, 20 -dinners alone with each other and [the Japanese secretary] has been to his residence many times,” said Gao, who added that he was informed of the allegations by sources at the Trade Mission of the Republic of China in Suva.
Chin, who is currently in Taipei on vacation, was unable to be reached for a comment.
Approached by reporters, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) yesterday said the ministry would look into the matter immediately.
Gao has attacked the Fiji mission over the past three days, first by raising accusations made by a Fijian female employee of the office about an alleged sexual assault by one of Chin’s aides, Leon Liu (劉壽軒), and then accusing Chin and foreign ministry officials of covering it up.
Yang said Liu would be transfered back to the ministry.
Liu, who had initially been moved from Fiji to Brunei, was ordered to return home within 10 days, Yang said.
The minister said he was sad about these incidents, which have dealt a heavy blow to the country’s image.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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