New Party finds ammo in `Next'

One day after the sensationalist new magazine Next (壹週刊) hit the streets for the first time and revealed his past romantic history, Chao Chien-min (趙建銘), the president's future son-in-law, yesterday found himself the target of New Party legislator Levi Ying (營志宏).

Ying raised in the legislature his suspicion that Chao had been photographed by the magazine driving an official car bearing a presidential office pass.

He said that if the car was a personal car -- and not one belonging to the Presidential Office -- then it shouldn't display a pass because Chao had not yet married the president's daughter Chen Ching-yu (陳幸妤).

"Who is going to guarantee the security of the Presidential Office if people who don't work there, such as Chao, can easily get inside?" Ying asked yesterday.

Yin also said mockingly: "Although everyone hates paparazzi, you can't deny that the magazine also makes [useful] contributions like this."

In response, the Presidential Office yesterday released a written statement saying that the car Chao was driving, bearing the license plate number 8A9843, was an official vehicle for the use of members of the first family.

The statement added that Chen usually drives the car to work, but it so happened that Chen asked Chao to drive her on the day the photo was taken.

The statement brushed aside Ying's concerns and said that the security of the Presidential Office was adequate.

Chao was also pursued by the media to comment on his past romances and his future relationship with Chen. He did not show up in Lotung township, Ilan County (宜蘭羅東), however, although he had been scheduled to serve as an intern at a hospital there for one month.

National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) later confirmed that the reason for Chao's absence was that his father, Chao Yu-chu (趙玉柱), was admitted to NTUH yesterday in preparation for an operation to remove a liver tumor. Chao was granted an absence of one day from his internship yesterday to take care of his father.

An NTUH spokesman, Chen Ming-feng (陳明豐), refused to confirm when Chao's father would have his operation, saying only that "the check-up is not fully completed yet."

Meanwhile, People First Party member Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), a former New Party legislator, yesterday commented on his alleged relationship with gangsters, insisting that he had absolutely no connection with any organized crime group. He made the comment in response to a photograph, taken by Next, which purported to show Lin attending a gang gathering.