Questions were posed to a reticent Asst. Secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/02/16
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Senator Marco Rubio on Thursday, Feb. 15 spoke to
Sen. Marco Rubio, Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Feb. 15 (Image from Youtube)
representatives from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at a meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
During the exchange with the U.S. State Dept.’s representative Susan Thornton, Rubio questioned her very seriously on the issue of the Taiwanese flag being removed from State Department web pages.
The sudden disappearance of the Taiwanese Flag from State Dept. web pages around Jan. 24 raised several questions on the justification for the removal, and led many to wonder who ordered the change.
Susan Thornton, as acting assistant secretary of the bureau, should have been knowledgeable about any changes to the website under her management. When questioned by Rubio on the issue, she responded that a new contractor had become responsible for the site, and that the changes were made under the new contractor’s discretion. [FULL STORY]