Taiwan’s top foreign affairs official in Berlin was said to have snubbed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during a visit there as part of her Europe trip.
A member of her delegation said Taiwan’s representative to Germany Wei Wu-lien (魏武煉) failed to meet Tsai at the airport or even give her a telephone call, actions normally considered customary for a high-profile trip by the head of the opposition party.
“I have never met this kind of overseas representative,” said Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the head of the DPP international affairs department that traveled with Tsai. “During this trip, the German representative was completely -indifferent to [Tsai] from start to finish.”
Despite sending an official request for assistance, including help setting up a meeting with several German politicians, the letters were largely ignored, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. Instead, the DPP was forced to rely on assistance from overseas Taiwanese groups and German politicians friendly to Taiwan, he added.
Back in Taipei, the allegations of a diplomatic lapse raised concerns among DPP politicians, but Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said that any courtesy extended to Tsai could be misconstrued as a violation of administrative neutrality.
Foreign affairs officials in Taipei were quick to point out that Wei had a prior commitment to -accompany first lady Chow Mei--ching (周美青) to a Cloud Gate Dance Theatre performance. And on the date of Tsai’s departure, Wei had a meeting with German officials.
Prior to the trip, Wei had invited Tsai to a meal, but received no response, according to officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs.
“[Wei] did not purposely avoid Tsai,” Director-General of European Affairs James Lee (李光章) said.
On the request for assistance, Lee said the German politicians listed by the DPP had timing conflicts and requests for follow-up information from the party were also ignored.
KMT caucus whip Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) suggested that Tsai did not need to be afforded such high-profile treatment by the -representative office as she was not yet officially listed with the Central Election Commission as a presidential candidate despite being nominated by the DPP.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) added that using administrative resources to help the DPP would have been a “violation of administrative neutrality.”
Tsai, running for the nation’s top post, should have been clear on this, he said.
However, DPP officials said that former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration had extended a similar courtesy to Lien Chan (連戰), the KMT’s honorary chairperson at the time. In 2005, Lien was personally greeted by then-Taiwan’s representative to Germany, Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), Chen said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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