Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) would do its best to assist overseas Taiwanese in need.
The remarks came after a Taiwanese student expressed disappointment at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York after seeking help from there following an attack.
The student said in a post on the Dcard online forum on Saturday that she was attacked by a woman at the New York Public Library on Wednesday.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The woman punched her on the right side of her head for no reason when she left the toilet, causing her to hit the corner of a wall, which left her bleeding, the student said.
The student’s friend asked the security personnel at the library for help, but five of them let the attacker leave the scene and asked her friend to calm down, she said, adding that she was later sent to hospital in an ambulance.
The student called the emergency line provided by the ministry afterward, but was only provided with a telephone number of an attorney, she said.
Asked by reporters about the incident, Wu yesterday said that since the student wished to seek legal remedy over the incident, the office recommended an attorney who had worked with the office before.
He said that the ministry and all foreign embassies and missions would do their utmost to assist overseas Taiwanese.
The ministry said in a statement that the office asked about the incident and what assistance the student needed when it received her call on Friday.
The student said she wished to file a lawsuit against the library, as its staff let the suspected attacker leave before the police arrived, so the office provided her with contact information of the attorneys it worked with and the Asian American Bar Association of New York, the ministry said.
The office told the student that it would be happy to provide further assistance and kept in close contact with local law enforcement, it said.
The ministry condemned any violence, including racial discrimination and verbal or physical violence, and said that it would ask offices in the US to keep in touch with overseas Taiwanese to offer help when needed.
In case of an emergency that threatens personal safety, people should take measures to protect themselves and immediately contact local law enforcement agencies or the nearest Taiwanese office abroad for assistance, it said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
RSS