A legislator yesterday called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to lodge a protest with France over an incident in which two Taiwanese were stripped, searched and detained for two days simply because they were holding two different kinds of Taiwanese passports.
KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) slammed the ministry for its failure to provide immediate assistance to the two men and said the ministry should protest the humiliating treatment they endured and demand an open apology from the French government over the incident in the French capital.
Kuo was referring to a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday which said that two staff members of a Taipei County technology company were traveling from Paris to London two weeks ago on a business trip when they were detained by authorities at Charles de Gaulle International Airport on suspicion of being terrorists because they were holding two different Taiwan passports -- one with the name "Taiwan" on the cover, the other without.
The two men were handed over to French police by British Airways workers at the airport, after which they were stripped to their underpants, searched and transported to a detention room where they sat for two days and two nights before being released, the report said.
The report said after the two men had informed their company head office of the incident, company authorities called the MOFA for assistance, only to be asked by officials why the two men had not requested assistance at the time.
Ministry officials said no Taiwanese passport holder had been detained overseas before for holding a new or old copy of a Taiwanese passport.
To date neither British Airways nor the French authorities had given any reason why the two men were detained and questioned, the officials said. They only informed the nation's representative office in France of the procedures whereby the victims could file a complaint, the officials said, adding that outbound travelers should always contact the ministry for emergency relief or assistance.
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) yesterday blamed the government's "name change" campaign for the incident, saying the campaign had made it difficult for people traveling overseas.
"The incident would not have happened if the government had made sure the change, adding the word `Taiwan' to the cover of passports, was made known to other countries before the policy was implemented," Lin said.
New passports with the word "Taiwan" in Roman script on the cover were formally issued in September 2003 as part of the government's effort to stop Taiwanese traveling abroad being confused with citizens of China.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Kuo Lin-yung (郭林勇) yesterday urged KMT lawmakers not to use the incident as a way to attack the government's "name change" campaign.
Adding the word "Taiwan" to the cover of passports prevents people overseas from confusing Taiwanese citizens with those from the People's Republic of China, he said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS