Rumors that deputy trade representative Yen Huai-shing (顏慧欣) was a victim of workplace bullying before her death at age 53 this month are being investigated, Yen’s former boss, Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮), said yesterday.
Asked by reporters about the claims after attending a meeting at the Legislative Yuan, Yang, a minister without portfolio and chief trade negotiator, cited remarks by Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) earlier that day, saying: “We will wait for the results of the investigation.”
Asked how she was feeling, Yang said that Yen was “the most important person in our office, and we’re all very sad.”
Photo: CNA
“During [Yen’s] life, we always had very good interactions,” she said.
Cho yesterday said that a third-party investigator had been hired to look into the workplace bullying claims and would submit a full report within two months.
News of Yen Huai-shing’s death from an unspecified illness on March 12 was made public on Tuesday last week, after her funeral, at her family’s request.
The daughter of former minister of finance Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章), Yen Huai-shing headed the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research’s Taiwan WTO and RTA Center before being appointed as deputy head of the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations in 2024.
The position put her at the center of trade talks between Taiwan and the US, up until she took leave for “health reasons” in September last year and submitted her resignation early last month.
However, since her death, rumors have circulated online that she was a victim of workplace bullying and was “excluded” by colleagues at the trade office.
Late last week, the Chinese-language United Daily News published what it claimed to be the text of her resignation letter, in which she complained that her suggestions on trade policy had been ignored or “harshly rejected.”
Cho’s plan to posthumously award Yen Huai-shing a meritorious service medal were reportedly declined by her family.
Asked about the family’s alleged refusal, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) last week said that the government would act “according to procedures, and continue to seek the family’s understanding.”
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