The Presidential Office and the National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday categorically denied media reports that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has systematically provided financial aid for overseas Chinese dissidents over the past four years.
NSB Deputy Director Huang Lai (黃磊) held a press conference to dismiss as fake the three "classified documents" Beijing claimed to have obtained from his agency and the Military Intelligence Bureau.
"I urge our people not to be misled by these documents and reports," Huang said.
Photo images of the three documents, which allegedly record details of when and how the DPP government gave money to overseas Chinese democracy activists, appeared in the Chinese-language China Times newspaper yesterday.
The newspaper said the documents were provided by China's Ministry of State Security, which accused President Chen Shui-bian's (
Accusing the Beijing authorities of using Taiwan's media outlets to smear the NSB, Huang said China has been attempting to link overseas Chinese dissidents with Taiwan's pro-independence activists in order to reduce the dissidents' influence at home.
According to the documents, overseas Chinese activists sponsored by the DPP government included Wang Dan (
Government Information Office Director-General and former Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Straits Exchange Foundation Deputy Secretary-General Yen Wan-ching (顏萬進) and former NSB Director Ting Yu-chou (丁渝洲) were among the Taiwanese officials involved in the financial aid program, according to the documents.
One document said Yen met with Wang Dan and Wang Juntao in Boston in 2001 to discuss the aid. After the meeting, Yen allegedly sent a report to the NSB on Sept. 11, 2001, which was signed by Ting.
Ting, responding to the media reports, said he became the secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC) in August 2001.
"As NSC head, it is impossible for me to sign any letters presented to the NSB," Ting said, adding he was in an emergency meeting at the Presidential Office on Sept. 11, 2001, to discuss how to react to the terrorist attacks in the US.
"The authenticity of the documents is highly questionable," Ting said.
Yen insisted yesterday the documents were "absolutely manufactured" and questioned Beijing's motives in publicizing them.
One characteristic of the documents suggested it is possible the papers might be faked: The papers contained simplified Chinese characters, which are not used in government correspondence in Taiwan. Official letters here use traditional Chinese characters.
Wang Dan, who is now in Canada, questioned Beijing's motivations in releasing the documents just a week ahead of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananment Square bloodshed.
Wang Dan dismissed Beijing's allegations of Taiwan's financial aid for him and his friends as "completely groundless."
"Apparently Beijing wants to portray all overseas Chinese democracy activists as spies for Taiwan," he added.
Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Su Tseng-chang (
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2