Deputy secretary-general to the president Chen Che-nan (
"I met Chen Yu-hao three times in 2002. The first time was at a restaurant, where a friend introduced us," Chen Che-nan said at a news conference at the Presidential Office.
PHOTO: LUO PEI-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
"The other two meetings were at the Presidential Office, where Chen Yu-hao explained that he did not transfer capital to invest in China while leaving huge debts in Taiwan. We did not discuss donations at any of the meetings, and I have neither transferred donations for Chen Yu-hao to the president nor accepted his money," Chen Che-nan said.
He said that Chen Yu-hao's asser-tions had a political motive.
Over the past five days opposition parties have held several press conferences accusing Chen Che-nan of involvement in financial scandals. In response to their claims, Chen Che-nan authorized Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (
On Thursday some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators asked Chen Che-nan to face the media in person to clearly explain whether he had made any deal with Chen Yu-hao.
At yesterday's press conference, Chen Che-nan denied all the claims against him, including allegations that he had met Chen Yu-hao at the China Development Group's private club and that he had accepted money from Chen Yu-hao at his residence.
"I am stating frankly and honestly that we do have a close relationship, but that I never took his money," Chen Che-nan said.
Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (
"The problem is not political donations as such, but how to regulate the donation process, and placing all politicians under the scrutinizing mechanism," Lu said in a TV interview last night.
"The opposition parties, including the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP), attack others for taking money, but at the same time do their best to obstruct the DPP's plans for passing the Political Donation Law," Lu said.
"How could those two parties dare to point fingers at us?" Lu said.
Commenting on a report in a Chinese-language newspaper on Wednesday that she had also received donations worth NT$55 million from Chen Yu-hao's group, Lu criticized the media's performance and asked the media to restrain itself.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS