The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) refused to give an approximate date yesterday on when Taiwan’s Swiss representative office would give a full report on why it failed to immediately forward a request for assistance from Swiss authorities regarding an alleged money-laundering case involving the former first family.
“I am not obliged to disclose any details regarding the investigation. We already asked the office to give a full report as soon as possible,” MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said.
Some critics said the ministry was inefficient because it appeared to only have questioned the representative office after media inquiries into the matter.
Chen later repeated to the Taipei Times that a report would come “as soon as possible,” adding that MOFA had demanded an explanation on the delay as soon it received the letter on July 25.
When asked why MOFA took six days before notifying the justice ministry about the request, Chen said that Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) made a verbal report to authorities immediately after receiving the letter from the Swiss office, but because of a three-day weekend caused by a typhoon, the official written report was not delivered to the Ministry of Justice until July 31.
Last Thursday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) made public a copy of the letter from Switzerland’s Federal Department of Justice and Police to Taiwan’s Swiss representative requesting information on deposits made to four Swiss bank accounts held by former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚).
Hung said the letter was sent to the representative office early last month and questioned why the office stalled for more than a week before sending it on to Taipei via regular postal mail rather than sending an urgent telegram.
Taiwan’s Swiss representative George Liu (劉寬平) had admitted full knowledge of the letter but denied accusations that he purposely delayed its delivery. He said that he didn’t send the letter immediately after receiving it on July 11 because he was busy with other business and he missed the weekly mail bag on July 16.
The MOFA said yesterday there were a number of ways for representative offices to communicate with Taipei.
“He [Liu] could have sent it via DHL or FedEx. He could have also informed the ministry right away through our secured fax line and telegram system,” a MOFA spokesman said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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