PFP Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) yesterday called on ex-chief of the general staff General Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) to step forward to explain whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) was one of the "evil forces" he mentioned in one of his books.
Hau issued a press release Friday evening -- after lawmakers spent the day grilling Chien in the Legislative Yuan -- which said that his book did not implicate Chien as one of the "evil forces," and that legislators had gone too far in their paraphrasing of this book.
Lee said Hau must give an explanation because a two-page description of an unidentified weapons lobbyist mentions Chien, at that time a legislator.
Hau's press release appeared to directly contradict Lee, who has been citing passages from the book to implicate Chien as having been involved in arms deals and having connections with, and done favors for, fugitive arms dealer Andrew Wang (
At a press conference at the legislature yesterday, Lee said although Hau did not identify who the "evil forces" were, the text suggests that Chien could be one of the group since the evil forces are described as including elected representatives, government officials and arms dealers.
The passages that Lee has been citing were taken from a two-volume book entitled Eight years' diary as Chief of the General Staff that Hau published in 2000.
In the first volume of the book, Hau writes that on March 18, 1984, the agent of a German company, who was not identified but was confirmed by different sources as Wang, deceived the military to prevent it from from purchasing communication equipment.
"The agent is asking lawmaker Eugene Chien to lobby in his favor," Hau says in the book.
"I will not yield to the evil people. The evil forces that are putting pressure on me include elected representatives, retired military officers and high-ranking government officials," he wrote.
Lee softened his tone yesterday in his attack on Chien.
Chien's attorney said yesterday that Chien is prepared to file a lawsuit against Lee if he does not apologize within three days for the ungrounded allegations made against the minister.
Lee became less aggressive, saying he never accused Chien of having been involved in the Lafayette frigate purchase scandal associated with Andrew Wang.
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