The nation's top representative to Britain, Tien Hung-mao (
Tien, a former foreign minister, and his subordinates in the UK office have come under attack for approving the passport application of Yeh Hsiu-chen (
After a closed-door meeting with Chen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tien, who has tendered his resignation, told reporters: "The ministry has formed a task force to investigate the case. All our office can do now is to wait for the results of the investigation and accept them."
PHOTO: CNA
"The ministry is looking into the case. I would not offer any conclusions about the investigation. I hope you [the media] will not jump to any conclusions either," he said. "The ministry will carefully examine the case."
During his 90-minute meeting with Chen, Tien said he "offered sincere answers to all the questions Chen asked," and explained all the circumstances behind the issuing of the passport to Yeh.
Chen, who emerged from the meeting with Tien by his side, praised Tien for his "courage" in offering to resign but declined to say whether the ministry would accept the resignation.
"We must first clarify who is responsible for this negligence before deciding who should go," Chen said.
The possible roles of Tien and former foreign minister Eugene Chien (
INSTRUCTIONS
Tien, who returned to Taipei late on Sunday night, said on arrival at CKS International Airport that his office had issued Yeh a passport after obtaining instructions from the central government.
An earlier incident in February last year, in which the British office issued documents granting power of attorney to a lawyer for Wang in a libel lawsuit filed against national policy advisor Hsieh Tsung-min (
Control Yuan members Ma Yi-kung (
They said the Control Yuan's special task force investigating the tainted purchase of French Lafayette-class frigates in the early 1990s will require the ministry to surrender all documents Wang supposedly signed that are held by the British office.
The issuing of those notarization papers has been described as the British office's first serious lapse. The office issued the papers to Wang on Feb. 5 last year. Wang was required to sign one of the documents in person at the office. On May 9 last year, the task force demanded the office send that document to investigators to check whether the signature was genuine.
The office provided investigators with some documents that Wang had supposedly signed but also claimed that Wang had taken the document he signed at the office away with him.
collusion
Control Yuan member and task force convenor Chao Jung-yao (
"The task force will interview Tien as well as other officials in order to find out the truth of the matter," Chao said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus leader Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) yesterday called on Premier Yu Shyi-kun to request that the Dominican Republic cancel Wang's Dominican passport.
Yu will start a 12-day trip to the Dominican Republic on Aug. 12 and attend the inauguration of president-elect Leonel Fernandez on Aug. 16. It is believed that Yu may also visit Nicaragua and Honduras, with transit stops in the US.
Chen Chien-ming made the appeal during a press conference yesterday morning. Afterwards, he visited the Control Yuan to request the government's watchdog launch an investigation into the matter.
According to Chen, Wang's Republic of China passport has expired, though he retains his Dominican Republic passport and a US green card.
additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
RSS