Taiwan demands release of Kansas City-based Taiwan official
Thursday’s arrest of Hsien-Hsien Liu, the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, Missouri, for allegedly abusing her housekeeper has sparked a very small international incident.
Liu, who has been held in federal custody since her arrest, has been charged with mistreating the woman by forcing her to work 16 to 18 hours a day, restricting when she could leave the house, and paying her between $400 and $450 each month. The Taiwan Office of Foreign Affairs is now demanding that the United States release Liu because she should have diplomatic immunity.
The Associated Press reports that Liu hired the woman from the Philippines and promised to pay her $1,240 a month for 40-hour workweeks. Liu is charged with fraud in foreign labor contracting, a felony that the AP reports is punishable with up to five years in federal prison. KSHB Channel 41 reports that the housekeeper escaped only after she found a fellow Filipino at the grocery store and informed them about her working conditions.
