Lawmakers called the president's credibility into question yesterday after a newly released book suggested that an office tryst similar to the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton affair was taking place in the Presidential Office.
But officials from the Presidential Office were quick to defend President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday, calling the allegations despicable, denying that Chen was having an affair with Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the president's translator.
During the national affairs forum at the legislature yesterday, KMT Legislator Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) cited paragraphs from the book Tang Fei -- in a Critical Era, written by Chou Yu-kou (
Although Liu acknowledged that the information has not been substantiated, the allegation has damaged the president's reputation nonetheless, the lawmaker claimed.
People First Party lawmaker Chen Chao-jung (
If the ex-boyfriend is still working for Beijing, Chen said, that could be cause for concern.
But Hsiao dismissed the rumors and the lawmakers' concerns yesterday, saying she had been targeted because she is a successful woman.
"As long as a woman is somewhat accomplished in her career, people will say [her achievements] have been gained by means of a physical relationship with others. This is upsetting," Hsiao said.
Hsiao said she was loyal to Taiwan, and that her relationship with her ex-boyfriend had ended years ago.
Chen, for his part, declined to comment on the allegations, sternly refusing media questions on the subject during a visit to an incinerator in Kaohsiung County yesterday.
Yu Shyi-kun, secretary-general to the Presidential Office, called the allegations a disgraceful way to slander the name of the president, or anybody else, for that matter.
DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said the "baseless" accusation wouldn't affect the public's view of Chen, and that the charges would only leave the public with a bitter taste for politics and those who repeat the allegations.
Another official from the Presidential Office, who declined to be identified, said that the opposition's rumor-mongering was intended to discredit the president's leadership and decision-making process.
"Since Chen took office, the criticism has been focused on Chen's excessive reliance on a group of young aides, all of whom are in their early 30s and have been working for Chen since he was the mayor of Taipei," the source said.
The allegations "are merely another wave in an attack [on the president] because Hsiao happens to be a brilliant and charming woman, who works closely with Chen."
President Chen himself did not respond to the rumor yesterday.
Chou herself was involved in a sex scandal in early 1998 when she claimed that both she and another socialite had had adulterous affairs with Hwang Yih-jiau (
Hwang allegedly persuaded both women to have abortions when they each became pregnant.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS