The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) refused to give an approximate date yesterday on when Taiwan’s Swiss representative office would give a full report on why it failed to immediately forward a request for assistance from Swiss authorities regarding an alleged money-laundering case involving the former first family.
“I am not obliged to disclose any details regarding the investigation. We already asked the office to give a full report as soon as possible,” MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said.
Some critics said the ministry was inefficient because it appeared to only have questioned the representative office after media inquiries into the matter.
Chen later repeated to the Taipei Times that a report would come “as soon as possible,” adding that MOFA had demanded an explanation on the delay as soon it received the letter on July 25.
When asked why MOFA took six days before notifying the justice ministry about the request, Chen said that Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) made a verbal report to authorities immediately after receiving the letter from the Swiss office, but because of a three-day weekend caused by a typhoon, the official written report was not delivered to the Ministry of Justice until July 31.
Last Thursday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) made public a copy of the letter from Switzerland’s Federal Department of Justice and Police to Taiwan’s Swiss representative requesting information on deposits made to four Swiss bank accounts held 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).
Hung said the letter was sent to the representative office early last month and questioned why the office stalled for more than a week before sending it on to Taipei via regular postal mail rather than sending an urgent telegram.
Taiwan’s Swiss representative George Liu (劉寬平) had admitted full knowledge of the letter but denied accusations that he purposely delayed its delivery. He said that he didn’t send the letter immediately after receiving it on July 11 because he was busy with other business and he missed the weekly mail bag on July 16.
The MOFA said yesterday there were a number of ways for representative offices to communicate with Taipei.
“He [Liu] could have sent it via DHL or FedEx. He could have also informed the ministry right away through our secured fax line and telegram system,” a MOFA spokesman said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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