A Taiwanese businessman claims that Lien Chan (連戰), as the KMT's candidate for the 2000 presidential election, asked Chinese officials to announce war games in the lead up to the poll to increase his chances of winning -- a charge the party denies.
Lin Chih-sheng (
Lin claims that Lien, now the KMT's chairman, had sent rep-resentatives to Hong Kong to ask Chinese officials to hold military exercises off the Fujian coast a few days before the election on March 18, 2000.
"What the book states is ridiculous," KMT spokesman Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) said yesterday. "We'll sue the author if he circulates the book.
Lin in his book writes that Lien's representative, Tsai Chih-hong (蔡志弘), who was then a deputy secretary-general in his presidential campaign, had made the trip to Hong Kong to ask Chinese officials for the favor.
But Beijing's representative, Hsing Yunming (邢運明), then the deputy director of the Central Committee's General Office in China, said the request couldn't be accommodated because there wasn't enough time to plan, according to the book.
"If the request was made one month earlier, we could have done it," Hsing is quoted as saying. "It's too late to announce a military exercise, but we could try other measures to assist Mr. Lien," he allegedly said.
Hsing made a counter-proposal, suggesting that Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (
In a speech that was widely seen on television in Taiwan on March 15, Zhu said: "Let me advise all these people in Taiwan: Do not just act on impulse at this juncture, which will decide the future course that China and Taiwan will follow. Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't get another opportunity to regret."
Ting Yuan-chao (
"The book is meaningless. It just wants to make Lien look bad," Ting said. "The media should not trust this kind of false information at all."
But Lin was adamant that his account of events was accurate and vowed to release evidence to prove his claims should Lien persist with his denials.
He also said the purpose of his book was not political, but is meant as a warning to Taiwanese businessmen considering investing in China.
"I am not a politician and don't want to be involved in politics at all," Lin told the Taipei Times yesterday. "I don't want to make anybody look bad. This is not my concern. Lien should stop denying my account, otherwise, I will release more evidence to prove my story."
Lin refused to say what evidence he possessed to prove his claim, but noted it wasn't unusual for top government officials to send secret envoys to meet with Chinese officials.
For example, he said, Su Chih-cheng (蘇志誠) and Cheng Su-ming (鄭淑敏) represented former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in secret talks with representatives for China's President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) in Hong Kong.
"Su and Cheng denied the accusations at first, but the evidence proved otherwise," Lin said.
The businessman once ran four schools that he founded in Shanghai and Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. But he fled China after falling out with the Chengdu City government, which took over his schools and detained him in June.
Lin left behind property worth 150 million yuan and illegally immigrated via a fishing vessel from the Fujian coast to Kinmen on June 29.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS