Sophie Wang's (
Wang started her career as a TV soap-opera actress on China Television Co back in the 1980s. She left the TV business after one year of acting but came back into the spotlight two years ago, when she was widely rumored to be the mistress of KMT Legislator John Chang (
But it is her recent relationship with Cheng that has made her a regular feature in the newspapers. During the summer, the pair were providing reams of column inches to hungry hacks when, after a short and tumultuous affair, they ran off to the US to get married. Journalists were given even more to write about when Cheng returned three months later, vowing never again speak to the woman for whom he had earlier said he would gladly give up his legislative post.
But there was still more to follow. On Dec. 7, Cheng and his newly reunited family had a dinner, the footage of which was broadcasted on Formosa Television. Wang, who had since returned from the US, became jealous and went to Cheng's apartment the next day and fought with Cheng's wife, Lu Pei-ying (呂珮茵).
Wang arrived at Cheng's office building at the Legislative Yuan last Tuesday and got down on her knee at the front door of the building, telling reporters, "I will stay here until he [Cheng] shows up."
After two and a half hours had passed, according to police at the Legislative Yuan, Wang looked very sick. However, when a police officer tried to take her to the hospital, she refused and said, "Leave me alone. I am fine."
Meanwhile, Cheng was holding a public hearing inside, but, because of Wang's behavior, Cheng refused to allow the press to cover the public hearing -- making it the first closed-door public hearing at the Legislature ever.
On Wednesday, Wang arrived at the tomb of Cheng's ancestors. She said that she has the right to pay her respects to the site because legally she is still Cheng's wife.
Asked how and why she did this, she said she was just doing what she was supposed to do.
"How did I know about the whereabouts of the tomb? Cheng brought me here before, of course," she said. "And I think it is normal for a wife to visit and bow before her husband's family's tomb. There is nothing wrong with that, is there?"
Cheng did not comment on Wang's behavior and remarks.
On Thursday, Wang flew to Malaysia. She said that she was going there to shoot a print commercial for the essential-oil business she is running.
It had all started in February when Cheng hired Wang as his personal aide for the legislature. On Aug. 7, Cheng flew to Los Angeles with Wang to demonstrate his resolve to get a divorce from his estranged wife Lu. Lu had refused to give him a divorce, and the pair are still married.
According to Cheng's office, Cheng and Wang were married in Las Vegas during their three-month stay in the US.
At the time, Cheng said that he would rather quit being a lawmaker than part with Wang, though he continued to collect his legislative salary and expense money.
Events took an unexpected twist when Cheng returned to Taiwan on Nov. 9 and said that the relationship between Wang and himself was over.
"In the beginning, I thought she was a present given by God. But it is not like that anymore," said the DPP legislator during a press conference held after his return.
Wang arrived in Taipei on a separate flight on the same day and claimed that she was pregnant.
"We were just bickering. No big deal. Cheng and I still love each other very much and I am now pregnant with his baby," Wang said.
According to Wang, she went to Beijing with Cheng in October and the baby was conceived on the trip.
Last Sunday, gynecologists from Taipei's Chungshan Hospital confirmed that Wang's baby miscarrried due to natural causes approximately one month ago. Wang insists that her baby died when she was beaten by Lu on Dec. 8.
According to Cheng, Wang suffers from a mental disorder and would do something outrageous every so often.
"She would become mad all of a sudden for no reason and that scared me. I really cannot live with her so I decided to come back to Taiwan," Cheng said. "This is the end for us. I do not want to talk about her anymore," he added.
However, Wang insists that Cheng should do something to make it up to her since she gave "everything" to him.
"I will bury my baby at Cheng's family tomb when I return because this baby belongs to his family," Wang said before she left Taiwan.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400