The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Friday its representative office in Switzerland showed poor judgment in handling a letter requesting judicial assistance in a case of alleged money laundering involving members of the former first family.
An official from the ministry was referring to the representative office’s method of forwarding the letter from the Swiss authorities to MOFA. The official said that the representative office received the letter, dated June 16, early last month but the correspondence did not reach MOFA until late last month.
George Liu (劉寬平), Taiwan’s de facto representative to Switzerland, the Central News Agency said that the Swiss Department of Justice sent the letter to his office via ordinary mail and did not mark it as confidential.
Liu said he therefore forwarded the letter to MOFA via the ordinary mailing process, but unfortunately, it missed the weekly post and was delayed for another week.
In the letter, Swiss authorities requested judicial assistance in probing a case of possible money laundering by former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚).
The MOFA official said that the ministry, after listening to the explanations offered by Liu and other staff members, concluded that the letter had not been deliberately delayed, but that the representative office had shown a “lack of political judgment.”
The ministry announced late on Friday night that Liu would be replaced by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Hsieh Fa-dah (謝發達).
Liu, a former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator, offered to resign in June and tendered a written resignation to Foreign Affairs Minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) late last month.
Other personnel reshuffles included the appointment of former representative to Fiji Liu Fu-tien (劉富添) as the new representative to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representative to Mongolia Liu Chih-kung (劉志攻) as the representative to the Czech Republic and director of Taipei Liaison Office in Johannesburg Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) as the representative to Turkey.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS