Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) denied claims by members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the DPP’s presidential candidate, had requested to visit Washington during his trip to Paraguay.
In recent weeks there have been claims that Lai had sent his personal envoy for talks with US government officials to grant him a stopover at the country’s capital.
Taiwan’s government checked with its representative offices in the US along with think tanks based there and the country’s officials, and confirmed no such talks had taken place and Lai’s team had not made such a request, said a Taiwanese diplomat, who did not want to be named.
Photo: CNA
Lai is to embark on his trip on Saturday next week with the main agenda of attending the inauguration ceremony of Paraguay president-elect Santiago Pena, and to arrive on the same day in New York to stay overnight there, then head to Paraguay, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui (俞大?) said.
On the return trip from Paraguay, Lai is to visit San Francisco on the night of Aug. 15 to stay overnight, then head back to Taiwan.
Yui did not give any information about Lai’s meetings in the two US cities, but said he would travel as “the president’s envoy.”
At a press briefing yesterday, Lin (林楚茵) alleged that Victor Chin (秦日新), deputy director of the KMT liaison office in Washington, was the source of the rumor.
The identification of Chin, a former diplomat, as the source of the rumor came from checks with Taiwanese and US officials, Lin said.
The rumor falsely alleged that Lai wanted to visit the American Institute in Taiwan headquarters in Washington, Lin said.
“Foreign affairs is not conducted by one party or one person only,” Lin said. “It is related to the image of our nation, but the KMT still allows Chin with a checkered record to spread rumors based on false information, to tarnish one of our government officials and to damage Taiwan’s efforts in international diplomacy.”
When Chin represented Taiwan abroad as a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) diplomat, he was embroiled in several scandals and came under judicial investigation and was found to have committed wrongdoings, she said, adding that MOFA later dismissed him, and he was also impeached by the Control Yuan.
The investigation findings on Chin leading to his impeachment included a corruption case, forgery of documents with false receipts for personal profit and engagement in an extra-martial affair with a female diplomat from Japan, along with other serious violations, Lin said.
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