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
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
RSS