A driver rammed a large truck into the main gate of the Presidential Office Building yesterday morning, in what police have initially determined was an intentional act.
Chiehshou Police Station Chief Tsai Han-cheng (蔡漢政) said the driver has been identified as Chang Te-cheng (張德正).
The incident — the most serious security breach to occur at the Presidential Office Building in years — took place at 5:05am when Chang drove a 35-tonne truck into the office, ramming through three layers of protective barriers and speeding up a flight of stairs before being stopped by a bulletproof door leading to the office’s main building, police said.
Photo: Chen En-hui, Taipei Times
Security personnel had slammed shut the bulletproof door in seconds when they saw the vehicle heading toward the building, they added.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was not in the building at the time of the incident, as he is on a state visit to Sao Tome and Principe.
The impact from the crash knocked Chang unconscious and he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police said, adding that no one else had been injured and the truck had been towed away from the scene.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Tsai said the 41-year-old suffered contusions to the back of his head, a collapsed lung and fractures in his hands and legs.
He was conscious after receiving treatment, but has so far refused to answer questions, the police chief added.
Tsai said that Chang’s mother told the authorities that her son does not have a political preference and seldom talked about politics.
She then said that her son had written a note on a mirror in his room yesterday morning asking her to take care of herself and his children, and saying that as for “my own business, I will resolve that myself.”
Chang’s mother told the police that her son had recently divorced his second wife and was being sued by his ex-wife’s brother for allegedly causing her bodily harm.
The vehicle that Chang was driven belonged to a transportation company in Taipei where he started working six months ago.
According to the company’s owner, surnamed Lin (林), Chang drove the truck from the firm’s premises at 4am on an assignment to carry construction waste from Taoyuan County’s Gueishan Township (龜山) to Keelung.
Lin was quoted as telling the police that Chang had a good work record and that he did not talk a lot with his colleagues.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday morning sent officials to examine the scene.
The prosecutors’ office said that Chang could face charges of interfering with public functions, in addition to charges of destruction, abandonment and damaging property.
Additional reporting by CNA and AFP
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS