First lady Wu Shu-chen (
"If Mr. Lien has any evidence, show it and prove the KMT's accusations and I, as well as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), will immediately ask Chen to resign from the presidential election," Wu said during a press conference at DPP headquarters.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"In the meantime, I urge Mr. Lien to make the same promise -- that if he lacks proof he should drop out of the race himself," Wu said.
In the past couple of weeks that pan-blue camp has tried to draw fire from pressure for the KMT to give back public assets the party stole while in power, and from questions about the origin of the wealth of the Lien family.
In two generations of service as government officials, Lien's family has amassed a fortune of NT$20 billion.
The KMT has run a number of ads and held press conferences accusing the president and his wife of being involved in insider trading and receiving illegal political donations from business conglomerates by promising to return them favors via the government's policies.
On Sunday, media reported on the draft of a speech Lien was to give that day at a campaign rally. The draft accuses Chen of being a "kickback president" (
According to the DPP's campaign headquarters, the first lady was infuriated by this accusation and she decided to personally challenge Lien.
During yesterday's press conference, an angry Wu stressed that the things about Chen of which she was proudest were his integrity and incorruptibility.
"What upset me most was that the KMT and Lien said the president took kickbacks and was corrupt without any evidence," she said.
"These groundless allegations and smears on his reputation are worse than than killing him [Chen]," Wu said.
"You [Lien] who once served as the country's vice president, how could you make those indiscriminate attacks?" she said.
After the press conference, the first lady, who has been wheelchair-bound since a KMT-organized political assassination attempt in the 1980s, went to the Taipei Distinct Prosecutors' Office in the company of some DPP heavyweights where she filed a suit against Lien for violating both the Criminal Code and the Election and Recall Law.
Asked by the media to respond to Wu's action, Lien said that he never called Chen a "kickback president" but just questioned how the first couple could double the value of its assets in the past three years.
"I have no idea about what she [Wu] means [about the `kickback president'], I did not say so personally," Lien told reporters.
"It is the entire society, the public, not only the KMT, which feels that the first couple has inappropriate connections to business syndicates," Lien said.
The KMT has claimed that during the past three years, the value of Chen's family assets has increased 125 percent, in particular the total value of the first couple's stock holdings has more than doubled to NT$74.9 million (US$2.2 million) because of insider trading.
But Wu defended her family yesterday pointing out that the KMT mistakenly added NT$48.5 million (US$1.4 million), which were government election subsidies provided under the Election and Recall Law.
"We have explained many times that the president has already donated this money for public services and to charities," Wu said.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
RSS