Overseas community minister quits over public resources misuse claims

Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) tendered her resignation Wednesday amid allegations by opposition lawmakers that she and her family misused public resources during her overseas trips, saying she wanted to allow official investigations to proceed.

Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) approved the resignation later Wednesday morning, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said.

Hsu's resignation came two days after the opposition Taiwan People's Party (TPP) accused her of making unnecessary overseas trips during her tenure at the OCAC.

The council and Hsu have since denied the TPP's allegations.

The OCAC is a Cabinet-level council responsible for relations with overseas Taiwanese and ethnic Chinese communities.

In a public statement, Hsu said that during her 6.5 years at the OCAC, first as deputy minister from May 2020 to May 2023 and then as minister, she had repeatedly faced "unfounded accusations from certain lawmakers."

Despite her best efforts to provide evidence to rebut those accusations, Hsu said, she found that there was "no room for rational discussion."

She said she had therefore decided to request an official investigation into the allegations and would fully respect its findings.

Hsu said she was also resigning to ensure the administrative and judicial authorities could conduct their investigations independently and objectively, though she regretted leaving many projects unfinished.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that it was investigating the allegations against Hsu and her family by asking Taiwan's representative offices in Germany, France and the U.S. to provide information about Hsu's visits to those countries.

In its accusations, the TPP claimed Hsu has traveled abroad 47 times for a total of 526 days since 2022, spending NT$23.83 million (US$749,938), or about one-third of the council's international travel budget.

At a news conference Monday, TPP Legislator Hung Yu-shiang (洪毓祥) played an audio recording of an unidentified individual who said that Hsu's husband and son live in Washington, D.C., and that Hsu had traveled to Washington or New York "three to four times" in 2024.

The frequent trips had exhausted staff at the OCAC's overseas offices, according to the individual in the recording.

The individual also claimed that Hsu's husband, American political analyst Bo Tedards, had used a Taiwan diplomatic vehicle to drive their son to see Hsu.

Hung also alleged that during an OCAC trip to Germany and France in 2022, Hsu, then OCAC deputy minister, had her son added to the delegation as a "photographer," even though he was only around 14 years old at the time.

The TPP alleged that Hsu's actions breached conflict-of-interest rules for public servants and violated Criminal Code provisions on usurping the authority of a public official. It called for Hsu to be suspended as OCAC minister pending an ethics investigation.