Dozens of Taiwanese building workers staged a protest on Monday as part of their dispute with a contractor that has halted work on a new de facto US embassy since last month.
The US-headquartered Weston Solutions in 2009 won a US government contract worth US$54.4 million to design and build the first phase of the new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) located in the capital city’s suburbs.
The AIT has represented US interests in Taiwan since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
But three Taiwanese subcontractors say that since November 2011 Weston Solutions has been defaulting on payments to them. They say the arrears now total NT$473.83 million (HK$122.38 million).
No Weston officials were immediately available for comment.
More than 60 people from the three companies held signs and shouted slogans like “Pay me the money due, I want to live on!” and “AIT owes us explanations!” during the demonstration at the construction site.