Fox News
Date: October 31, 2016
By: Associated Press
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Having taken up the cause of a fellow Taiwanese held by Somali
FILE – In this Oct. 23, 2016, file photo, sailors who had been held hostage by pirates for more than four years, queue to board an airplane after being released, in Galkayo, Somalia. Taiwan’s government agencies at home and in three foreign capitals snubbed former legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan’s pleas for help. Nervous donors who provided funds for a ransom demanded a money-back guarantee if the hostage wasn’t released. Even after the money was paid, the man refused to return home unless 25 others held with him were also freed. The group was finally released Oct. 22, after more than four and a half years – the second-longest period hostages had ever spent in Somalia. (AP Photo/File)
pirates, former legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan faced one hurdle after another.
Government agencies at home and in three foreign capitals snubbed his pleas for help. Nervous donors who provided funds for a ransom demanded a money-back guarantee if the hostage wasn’t released.
Even after the money was paid, the man refused to return home unless 25 others held with him were also freed. The group was finally released Oct. 22, after more than four and a half years — the second-longest period hostages had ever spent in Somalia.
“I just have this faith that if a country doesn’t give up on its citizens in trouble, it will be loved by its people,” said Tsai, 62, who served in Taiwan’s legislature for 20 years and now runs the chief opposition Nationalist Party’s central policy committee. [FULL
STORY]
