A breach of diplomatic protocol: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs just didn’t care about them
DPP accuses Ma administration of snubbing Abe
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
Source: taipeitimes.com
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accuse President Ma Ying-jeou in Taipei yesterday of breaches of protocol regarding Monday’s meeting between DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
In what the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is portraying as a breach of diplomatic protocol, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday night was allegedly forced to hail a taxi from his hotel after Taiwanese foreign affairs officials accompanying him supposedly failed to provide transportation.
According to an account from the DPP, halfway through a dinner party organized by several DPP officials on Yijiang Street in Taipei on Sunday, Abe was escorted back by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials to the Ambassador Hotel, where he was staying, for a press conference with Japanese media. At about 10:30pm, when the press conference wrapped up, Abe sought to return to the restaurant. By that time, however, the DPP and witnesses at the restaurant claim that Abe, a bodyguard and a member of the Japanese Diet accompanying him, had to hail a cab from the hotel’s main entrance, as the transportation provided by the ministry had vanished.
“We couldn’t believe [Abe] was left without a car,” said Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), director of International Affairs for the DPP and one of the attendees at the dinner party. “If we had known he planned to come back this way, we would have sent a car as a matter of courtesy.”
Abe’s dinner hosts did not know he had to take a cab until after a Japanese representative casually mentioned that the former prime minister had hailed a cab to return to the restaurant, DPP officials told the Taipei Times.
Witnesses at the scene included DPP legislators Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Chen Ying (陳瑩), who yesterday accused the ministry of -“impoliteness and incompetence.”
This was an embarrassing incident, they said, adding that this explained why government officials were seeking to downplay the episode.
Read the rest @ taipeitimes.com
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
Source: taipeitimes.com
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accuse President Ma Ying-jeou in Taipei yesterday of breaches of protocol regarding Monday’s meeting between DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
In what the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is portraying as a breach of diplomatic protocol, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday night was allegedly forced to hail a taxi from his hotel after Taiwanese foreign affairs officials accompanying him supposedly failed to provide transportation.
According to an account from the DPP, halfway through a dinner party organized by several DPP officials on Yijiang Street in Taipei on Sunday, Abe was escorted back by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials to the Ambassador Hotel, where he was staying, for a press conference with Japanese media. At about 10:30pm, when the press conference wrapped up, Abe sought to return to the restaurant. By that time, however, the DPP and witnesses at the restaurant claim that Abe, a bodyguard and a member of the Japanese Diet accompanying him, had to hail a cab from the hotel’s main entrance, as the transportation provided by the ministry had vanished.
“We couldn’t believe [Abe] was left without a car,” said Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), director of International Affairs for the DPP and one of the attendees at the dinner party. “If we had known he planned to come back this way, we would have sent a car as a matter of courtesy.”
Abe’s dinner hosts did not know he had to take a cab until after a Japanese representative casually mentioned that the former prime minister had hailed a cab to return to the restaurant, DPP officials told the Taipei Times.
Witnesses at the scene included DPP legislators Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Chen Ying (陳瑩), who yesterday accused the ministry of -“impoliteness and incompetence.”
This was an embarrassing incident, they said, adding that this explained why government officials were seeking to downplay the episode.
Read the rest @ taipeitimes.com
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