Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday suggested that gambling could have been behind the election-eve assassination attempt on her and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2004, and used colors to describe four possible reasons for the attack.
On March 19, 2004 — known as “319” — a bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and another hit Lu’s knee when the pair were campaigning in Tainan. The pan-blue camp said the shooting was staged to win votes.
Prosecutors closed their investigation into the shooting concluding that Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) was the sole perpetrator.
Lu said yesterday that she believed there were two gunmen and that she was not convinced that Chen Yi-hsiung was capable of carrying out the shooting.
She said there were four theories behind the incident, describing each using a color: red, blue, green and black.
First, China (red) could have been behind it, but she said it would make more sense for them to contract a professional to do the job.
Second was the theory that the pan-blue camp was responsible, but Lu said it would not have helped former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) because the election would have been canceled if the presidential candidate had died, as stipulated in the President and Vice President Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法).
Third, someone in the pan-green camp could have wanted to kill her to boost support for Chen Shui-bian. But that theory did not make sense, she said, because opinion polls showed that she and Chen were ahead at the time.
“I don’t think it was likely or necessary to sacrifice me,” she said. “Of course, other people might think differently, but what I want to do here is to point out the possibilities so those in power can follow the lead to find out the truth.”
Fourth, gamblers (black) betting on a Lien-Soong victory could have wanted to do something dramatic to reverse the situation because she and Chen were leading in the polls, Lu said.
Lu made the remarks while introducing her new book, Putting 319 in Perspective, at her Taipei office yesterday afternoon.
Lu urged a revision of the President and Vice President Election and Recall Act to ensure candidate safety and electoral fairness.
The Act stipulates that the Central Election Commission should halt presidential campaigns and reschedule the vote should a presidential candidate die at any point between registering their candidacy and election day.
The provision, however, does not apply to vice presidential candidates.
Lu also dismissed speculation that she would visit China anytime soon.
Two Chinese-language newspapers have engaged in a war of words about whether China intended to invite Lu to visit. The Democratic Progressive Party also expressed opposition to the plan.
Chen Shui-bian said that Lu should reject the invitation because it was part of Beijing’s “united front” scheme.
After Beijing said that it would welcome Lu to China “in an appropriate capacity,” she said that it was meaningless to bicker over what title she would use for such a trip, if there were to be one.
Lu said that she should go as herself because when people see her name they will associate it with feminism and trailblazing democracy, as well as her eight years as vice president.
Commenting on Chen’s hope to see pro-independence groups form a new party to push for Taiwan’s sovereignty, Lu insinuated that it was unnecessary, saying that Taiwan had been independent since March 23, 1996, when Taiwanese first elected their president.
Meanwhile, prosecutors yesterday asked the family of Chen Yi-hsiung if they could inspect his ashes as they suspected that his death was not a suicide.
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