Sources have shed light on the details of the arrest of a Taiwanese diplomat in the US on Thursday last week for alleged labor violations.
According to sources, the FBI’s arrest of 64 year-old Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍), the director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Kansas City, Missouri, was not carried out at either her residence or her office.
Sources said Liu was arrested coming out of a women’s restroom in the building that houses the TECO.
Liu came into the office on Thursday last week as usual and was arrested by FBI agents when she walked out of the restroom, where she was getting ready to leave for a social event arranged by the US government, sources said, adding that Liu was read her rights by the FBI agents and was immediately led away in handcuffs. Liu did not even have time to return to her office to get her glasses, the sources said.
At the time nobody at the office knew that Liu had been arrested until the FBI later notified an official at the representative office whose mobile phone number was given to FBI agents by Liu after her arrest, sources said.
Meanwhile, a TECO official who was already at the social event to meet up with Liu waited in vain for her to arrive and also learned about her arrest upon receiving a telephone call from the FBI.
The TECO official then immediately notified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sources said.
Taiwan feels that the FBI took inappropriate measures when arresting Liu and the ministry has criticized the FBI’s actions as being “rude.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) gave orders at midnight Taiwan time on Friday last week for Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the ministry’s Department of North American Affairs, to call the American Institute in Taiwan to confer Taiwan’s grave concerns and to protest the arrest, sources said.
Yang also gave orders to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) to summon American Institute in Taiwan Deputy Director Eric Hubert Madison on Friday morning last week to convey to him the government’s stance on the matter.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
RSS