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Cheng calls first lady impolite

Scandal-ridden DPP lawmaker Cheng Yu-chen (鄭余鎮) yesterday attracted attention by saying that First Lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) was impolite for turning down his request for a meeting during her recent trip to the US.

Wu, who attended a charity event to help raise funds for disabled groups, said she found Cheng's romantic entanglement "preposterous" and said she didn't have the appetite to make further comment.

Meanwhile, Cheng's recently jilted lover Sophie Wang (王筱蟬) denied she had abused the lawmaker in any manner. Cheng has attributed their sudden breakup to Wang's violence.

Unfazed by the uproar over his love affairs, Cheng took part in the meeting of the Sci-Tech and Information Committee for the first time in the present session which began in September.

He raised his voice in anger after stepping outside the venue when reporters invited him to remark on assorted criticisms in connection to his love life.

"It is unkind of Wu to say she is not acquainted with me," the lawmaker said of his failed attempt to call on Wu at her hotel room in Los Angeles.

"She begged me to help arrange visits with her husband [in 1986] when he was in jail. DPP lawmaker Lan Mei-chin (藍美津) can attest to this episode."

Cheng said he meant simply to show his regard for Wu after learning from news reports that she fell ill during the trip.

"The first lady should have received me out of politeness. Even a private Taiwanese citizen should be granted this request. I am very angry about being humiliated," he said.

Cheng also directed his fire at his DPP colleagues who demanded his expulsion from the party on grounds he has neglected his duty as a lawmaker and harmed the party's image.

Earlier, the DPP legislative caucus agreed to revoke his membership, a decision that is pending final approval by the party's Central Review Committee later this month.

"It sends a chill down my spine to see fellow members ganging up on me rather than taking sympathy for my predicament," he said. "Where were they when I fought for Taiwan's democratization on the streets?"

Cheng, who stayed in the US over the past three months to divorce his first wife Lu Pei-ying (呂佩茵), said that they have patched up their relationship and that from now on he will focus his energy on public affairs.

Despite his marital status, he went through a marriage ceremony with Wang in Las Vegas last July in apparent violation of laws at home and in the US against bigamy.

During a news conference the following month, the lawmaker called Wang "a godsend" and that he would rather quit being a lawmaker than part with his "true love."

On Tuesday, however, he rolled up his trousers before the press to show a mark where he said Wang had bitten him. "I had long wanted to return to Taiwan but she repeatedly threatened to kill herself if I did so. She is mentally ill," Cheng said.

He reportedly fled home after borrowing the airfare, as Wang has taken control of his money and identification papers.

The first lady appeared not the least interested in Cheng's dramatic saga, which she dismissed as "absurd" during a charity function.

With her hallmark candidness, she urged the media to devote as much coverage to a disabled exposition slated for Dec. 1 at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

"But please don't ask me to remark on Cheng or Wang on my way out," she said.

DPP Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), chairman of the party's Central Review Committee, said regrets and tears will not spare his colleague from discipline.

Meanwhile, Wang accepted one TV interview after another to tell her side of the story. She shrugged off the bite as commonplace in quarrels between husband and wife, saying, "it is not as though I chopped a limb off him or something."

The former actress alleged Cheng lived in the US on her expense, adding she spent US$40,000 on assorted outlays and bills.
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