A document cited by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) when it accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of improper involvement in a biotechnology company was altered twice with a “vicious motive” before it went public, the DPP said yesterday.
Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) on Dec. 12 disclosed a document dated March 31, 2007, which the KMT used to accuse Tsai of wrongdoing in the formation of Yu Chang Biologics Co (宇昌生技股份有限公司), now known as TaiMed Biologics Inc (中裕新藥股份有限公司), when Tsai served as vice premier.
Liu apologized the next day for “confusing the dates” of the document, which was actually from Aug. 19, 2007, but denied that she had forged the document.
Photo: Li Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference yesterday that Liu and the KMT were suspected of not only altering the date on the document, but also erasing the marking tag of “Attachment No. 3” to cover up the fact that it was one of six attachments to that document.
Liu said her agency confused the date because the document’s Attachment No. 2 was missing, an excuse that Chen described as weak.
The minister — or the KMT — could have intentionally altered the date and removed the attachment marking on the document, which stated that Tsai would be one of Yu Chang’s core leaders, so people would assume Tsai had planned to make an improper profit when she was in government, Chen said.
Tsai served as vice premier from 2006 to 2007 and resigned on May 20, 2007, before being named as Yu Chang’s chairperson in August that year.
“What they did was simple. Whoever did this — Liu or the KMT ... took out Attachment No. 3 from the Aug. 19 document, removed the marking and said it was a March 31 presentation, so the public would believe that Tsai [was guilty of] improper conduct as vice premier,” Chen said. “We wonder who made the alterations. Was it Liu or the KMT legislative caucus?”
“The DPP strongly condemns the forgery,” Chen added , demanding that Liu disclose all six attachments of the Aug. 19 document and explain who altered the document, as well as when and where the document was forged.
Chen also urged the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigation Division (SID) and Prosecutor-General Huang Shyh-ming (黃世銘) to disclose all the documents related to the so-called “Yu Chang case,” which had been seized by the SID, for the public to examine.
Chen reiterated that Tsai’s role in the case was clear — that she wanted to do her best to help with the development of Taiwan’s biotechnology industry and that she never imagined that she would be persuaded by scientists to serve as the company’s chair.
“Liu claimed that the case was complicated because she sees the world through stained glasses,” Chen said.
The evidence that the DPP has provided showed that this was a KMT smear campaign and there could be someone behind the scenes who manipulated the entire case in an effort to discredit Tsai’s presidential campaign, DPP spokesperson Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) added.
“Our question for Liu is a simple one: Why did she pull the attachment from the Aug. 19 document and change the date to March 31?” he said.
At a separate setting yesterday, KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) rebutted the DPP’s allegation, saying the KMT caucus did not alter the copy of the document provided by the CEPD in any way.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS