Paraguay probing suspicious vehicle seen near Taiwan envoy's house

Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Friday that it is cooperating with an investigation into a vehicle registered to Chinese company Huawei believed to have surveilled Taiwan's ambassador in Paraguay.

The ministry was referring to the incident in October when its embassy staff in Asunción noticed individuals inside a parked vehicle appeared to be spying on the residence of Ambassador José Han (韓志正).

The embassy immediately notified the police, which later identified the vehicle as registered to Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei based in Paraguay, MOFA added.

According to various Paraguayan news reports, the vehicle was a gray Audi van parked outside Han's residence for roughly two hours.

Citing the witness account of an embassy employee, the reports mentioned that a man inside the vehicle not only proceeded to snap photos of Han's residence, but he also pointed an item in what appeared to be an electronic monitoring device, possibly to interfere with or intercept digital signals from the residence.

When police arrived at the scene and approached the van to investigate this unusual behavior, the driver immediately sped off, the reports said, adding that after reviewing nearby surveillance cameras, the vehicle's license plate was found to be registered to Huawei.

The driver was later identified as a 62-year-old Huawei employee named Dionisio Duarte.

Paraguayan police said that the other person in the van was "a man with oriental features," according to Paraguayan media.

On Friday, MOFA said its embassy in Paraguay is cooperating with the authorities there on the investigation in order to ensure the safety of its personnel operating in the country.