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.
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘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
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
RSS