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Envoy denies claims,
to return to Fiji
SORRY: Victor Chin bowed in front of the media
yesterday to ask for forgiveness from his colleagues, family and the public amid
a string of alleged scandals at his office
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporters
Representative to Fiji Victor
Chin, speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Taipei yesterday, denies having an affair with a secretary from the Japanese
embassy and misusing public funds.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Representative to Fiji Victor Chin (秦日新)
yesterday said he would return to his post today to repair the “damaged”
relationship with the South Pacific island country amid allegations of sexual
misconduct by a Taiwanese diplomat toward a Fijian female employee.
Leon Liu (劉壽軒), first secretary of the Trade Mission of the Republic of China in
Fiji, who in a letter confessed to sexually harassing an employee on two
occasions, was given two demerits and ordered to return home by next Thursday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided on the penalty for Liu at an emergency
meeting of its Evaluation Commission on Tuesday after Democratic Progressive
Party Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) exposed the controversy on Sunday.
Gao has said Chin, who is currently on vacation in Taiwan, had an affair with a
Japanese employee of the Japanese embassy in Fiji and used public funds to pay
for dinner dates.
Citing telephone and public expense records, Gao on Tuesday said that Chin had
used government money to pay for as many as 20 dates with the woman.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) had asked Chin to meet him
yesterday morning to discuss Gao’s allegations and to explain the situation to
the public, which prompted Chin to call a press conference.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Bowing in front of the cameras, Chin said he “sincerely apologized” to his
supervisors, colleagues, parents, family and the public for the negative impact
the controversies have had on the nation’s diplomatic efforts, but he denied all
allegations against him.
“There is nothing fishy going on between [the Japanese diplomat] and me. I
associate with her only on business occasions,” said Chin, who was appointed
representative in August last year.
He said he had gotten to know the Japanese diplomat, who was then third
secretary at her embassy, at the Pacific Islands Forum in 2009.
Maintaining connections with the Japanese embassy helps Taiwan’s representative
office to advance its relations with Fiji given the crucial role Japan has
played in Fiji and the Pacific region, Chin said.
Gao said Chin phoned the Japanese diplomat and sent her an unusually large
number of text messages, sometimes in the middle of the night, and invited her
to his residence.
TRANSIT QUESTION
The lawmaker said he also suspected Chin stopped in Japan en route from Taiwan
to Fiji last month.
The envoy did not discuss Gao’s allegations, but only said: “There are no
skeletons in the closet.”
The Japanese diplomat frequently consulted him earlier this year because she was
working on a paper about the political and economic situation in Fiji before she
returned to Japan in March, Chin said, adding that they had contacted each other
at night because they were busy with work during the day.
EXPLANATION
He said he decided to make a transit stop in Japan on his way home last month
because he had not been there in years and he wanted to shop for Japanese
electronics after he found there were no flight tickets available from Taipei to
Seoul at the time.
During his three-day stay in Japan, Chin said he met the Japanese diplomat, who
treated him to meals and took him to department stores.
Chin said the Japanese diplomat accepted a dinner invitation to his residence in
Fiji on one occasion last year that was attended by other staff from the
representative office, but she was the only guest.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan forbids its diplomats from officially
interacting with Taiwanese diplomats because of Tokyo’s “one China” policy, Chin
said, so he had been “slightly hesitant” about admitting that the Japanese
diplomat had visited his residence.
As to claims that he illegally applied for dependent benefits and education
allowances for his children, Chin denied any irregularities and said he was
confident a ministry investigation would clear his name.
“Bringing these things to light in this way has damaged Taiwan’s bilateral
relationships with Fiji and Japan. That is what I feel bitter about. It could be
because a whistleblower has complaints about me, but there are other ways for
one to file a complaint at the ministry,” Chin said.
He denied Gao’s allegation that he had bought a pearl necklace for the Japanese
diplomat, saying the necklace was a gift for a Fijian politician, whom he did
not identify.
Gao claims to have information showing Chin had claimed a US$6,000 pearl
necklace as government expenditure two days before the Japanese diplomat
returned home on March 30.
“If it was not for her, then who was it for?” Gao asked.
Spokesman James Chang (章計平) said the ministry had formed a task force led by
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳) to investigate the case.
“[Chin] is treating the public like a three-year-old,” Gao said about the
diplomat’s explanations. “Who will believe that he repeatedly telephones someone
who is simply a friend, constituting up to half of his calls, day after day over
two months.”
The point of the revelations was not to embarrass Chin, but to question why he
used public funds [for personnel matters], Gao said.
Most of the meals in question were late at night at expensive Japanese
restaurants and were paid for using a diplomatic account, the lawmaker said.
“Why should the government foot the bill for Chin to teach a Japanese diplomat
how to write her report,” Gao said, referring to Chin’s claims that he was
tutoring the Japanese diplomat. “Not even his own logic makes sense.”
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