A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator accompanying President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on his trip to Central America yesterday criticized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for communication failures after a series of disputes between Ma's security personnel and those of Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom.
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) told reporters that Colom's bodyguards were blocked and frisked when they tried to enter a banquet hosted by Taiwanese Ambassador to Guatemala Sun Ta-chen (孫大成) at his official residence.
“It is not an eye for an eye or deliberate reprisal,” Hsieh said. “But our people cannot speak Spanish and both sides have to communicate using body language. It shows that there is a serious problem in our embassy personnel's communication ability.”
A series of disputes between Ma's security personnel and those of Colom arose during Ma's first day in Guatemala on Friday.
The first dispute arose when Ma's bodyguards wanted to enter a secure area where Colom was welcoming Ma with a 21-gun salute and military honor guard. Guatemalan security personnel refused to allow them to enter.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) later said that security issues are usually negotiated beforehand, but the “misunderstanding” was the result of communication problems and the demand by all of Ma's bodyguards to be allowed into the secure zone. After communicating through translators, three bodyguards were allowed in, Wang said.
A dispute over access arose again later that day when Ma and Colom were signing a joint statement. Only one of Ma's bodyguards was allowed to enter the secure area after he agreed to surrender his weapon.
Officials in Guatemala and at home offered different accounts, however.
Wang denied that the bodyguard was asked to surrender his weapon. He also downplayed the conflict between the two sides.
National Security Bureau (NSB) Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) told a legislative committee on Monday that there was no quarrel or conflict, nor did Ma's boyguard surrender his weapon.
He also blamed the media for “circulating erroneous reports.”
The NSB yesterday also issued a statement dismissing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-ching's (葉宜津) allegation that three of Ma's bodyguards involved in the controversy were not security personnel but police officers carrying guns.
The statement said that the bureau regularly recruits talent from the National Police Administration to join the security forces, adding that the three police officers had completed the training program and passed tests.
The man who entered the venue where the joint statement was being signed was a security guard with military background, the statement said.
It did not touch on Hsieh's criticism.
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