TPP calls for suspension and probe of OCAC minister
By Chen Chih-cheng / Staff reporter
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus yesterday called for the government to suspend Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) and investigate her for allegedly bringing her teenage son on an official overseas trip as a “staff photographer” and allowing her husband to drive diplomatic vehicles for personal use.
Hsu last month said she was fined NT$100,000 by the Control Yuan for allowing her son to join a council-founded youth camp on the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in August last year, in contravention of the Act on Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest (公職人員利益衝突迴避法).
TPP lawmakers Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) and Hung Yu-hsiang (洪毓祥) said that according to a source, Hsu had repeatedly brought her son on official overseas trips, and pretended that he was a staff photographer, which they said was a “completely shameless abuse of privilege.”
Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers Hung Yu-hsiang, left, and Chen Gau-tzu hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA
At a news conference in Taipei, the lawmakers played an audio recording of a person who they said is a member of the overseas Taiwanese community. That person said that during Hsu’s visits in 2024 to New York, Washington and elsewhere in the US, she allowed her husband to drive the representative office’s vehicle for personal use.
“This is a serious diplomatic incident” that contravenes the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), the official vehicle management regulations of Taiwan’s representative offices in the US, and the US Department of State’s regulations governing global diplomatic personnel and properties, they said.
The source also said that when Hsu visited France and Germany in 2022, she allowed her son to accompany her throughout the trip, presenting him as a staff photographer.
Hsu allowed her son to use a cellphone to document events in the capacity of a staff photographer at important overseas community gatherings, Hung said, adding that the minister disregarded security risks.
The controversy has sparked discontent among overseas Taiwanese communities, Chen said, calling on Hsu to step down immediately and submit to an investigation.
The OCAC said that all travel plans, staffing arrangements and budget expenditures strictly adhere to the Directions for the Overseas Travel Allowance Disbursement (國外出差旅費報支要點) and budget regulations.
All expense declarations and reimbursements are subject to strict supervision by audit institutions, it added.
The OCAC’s dispatch of overseas personnel and official vehicles also complies with operational regulations, and their usage is strictly limited to official duties, with no private use or overclaiming of expenses, it said.
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