After Chen Hsing-yu went public about her marital breakdown, Chao Chien-ming was photographed leaving the country for the first time, and a travelling companion's prior corruption conviction has drawn extra attention to the low-key trip — negative news for his image.

• Chao Chien-ming has made no public response to the marital breakdown; he boarded a flight to Vietnam on the 17th, and one of those travelling with him was Tsai Ping-hsiung, a fellow inmate from his time in prison.
• Tsai Ping-hsiung is from Kouhu, Yunlin, and runs a mullet roe business. After his release he served as chairman of his village's Shuntian Temple, and few people locally were aware of the two men's prison connection.
• Years ago he acted as a go-between for a local resident who wanted a cleaning crew position at the township office arranged for his son, collecting the payoff on behalf of the late former township chief Tsai Yung-chang and playing the role of a "white glove."
• The methods included an initial cash offer that was refused on the spot, followed by a switch to paying off the township chief's debts at a flower shop and presenting him with mullet gizzards, a favourite of his, in exchange for the position.
• The case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, ending in a final conviction for offering a bribe, with a sentence of two years' imprisonment and two years' deprivation of civil rights.

Outlook: Chao Chien-ming has yet to come forward to explain the marital breakdown, and this trip to Vietnam, together with the background of those accompanying him, is likely to keep public attention building.