People First Party Legislator Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) made public yesterday more "evidence" to back up her allegation that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was in cahoots with China, despite open questioning of her sanity by colleagues.
After accusing Chen of accepting an NT$140 million campaign contribution from Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
According to Chin, who based her allegation on a pile of documents that she claimed had been verified again and again, Jiang had offered Chen a 5 percent share of three US-China-backed semiconductor fabs. In addition, the Chinese president offered Chen another 5 percent share of a petrochemical complex that the Formosa Plastics Group (
In another part of the story, Chin also said that two people arrested by Chinese authorities for stealing the secret documents had been killed on Tuesday, the first day she made public these materials.
Officials at the Presidential Office, who have denied Chin's allegations before, yesterday said the charges deserve no attention at all.
"Her [Chin's] remarks are so illogical that not even high school students will believe in it," said Yu Shyi-kun, secretary-general to the Presidential Office.
Some DPP politicians said Chin has "lost her mind."
"I think she is sick in a very serious way," DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (
Chin yesterday insisted that all the documents -- including letters allegedly sent by Chen to Jiang, a receipt and agreements signed between them -- were authentic.
"Some high-ranking officials at investigation agencies have told me in private that the materials are all authentic. But they dare not take any action, because it is the head of state whom they are facing," Chin said.
Chin said she had also checked with national security agencies, and was told that they do not conduct surveillance on the president.
"The president is the most powerful leader in the country who controls the executive, judicial and intelligence system. No law will reach the president under these circumstances," Chin argued.
Chin compared this case to another one in which former president Lee Teng-hui (
"If the KMT and the communists had not admitted it, the media would have had no idea as to what to believe. The key factor is whether the people in power are willing to admit it," Chin said.
On public doubts as to why China would opt to support a presidential candidate from the pro-independence DPP in the first place, Chin said this was because of the strong recommendation of Formosa Chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶) and his son, Winston Wang (王文洋).
"But up until today, Chinese authorities don't trust Chen 100 percent. This was also the reason why they kept making Chen sign agreements and guarantee documents, which have become tools to secure their control over Chen," Chin said.
Chin has alleged that the father and son had acted as secret cross-strait envoys for Chen. Winston Wang has filed slander charges against Chin over the allegation.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS