Mon, Mar 29, 2004 page3

• President Chen challenges his critics

  RETORT While offering to meet the blue camp's demands, Chen said Lien Chan and James Soong should put themselves in front of a bullet if they think he is lying

  • By Brian Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sought to dispel suspicions the March 19 assassination attempt against him had been staged, saying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) should put themselves in the same situation to see if he was lying.

  "I am willing to pay money to hire the best shooter in the world to make a test. If KMT Chairman Lien and PFP Chairman Soong would stand still on a Jeep to receive shots from the shooter and if the two could get the same wounds as I and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) did last Friday, I would step down as president," Chen said.

  "If they [Lien and Soong] can't do it or if they are afraid of doing it, they had better keep their mouths shut," he said.

  Chen made the remarks Saturday night at a press conference in which he made a formal response to accusations of foul play in the March 19 shooting incident in Tainan.

  "I cannot accept the false accusations of my conducting the shootings or the suspicions that the incidents were faked. Would they believe them only if Lu and I were killed?" he said.

  "I have never staged this shooting incident and there is nothing to hide. The investigation will be fair and transparent," Chen said. "I do not want to bear this bad name any longer."

  Chen expressed thanks to State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Jen-fa (盧仁發), who had announced that a special independent task force would be established to investigate the shooting.

  "I am glad that internationally renowned forensic experts Henry Lee (李昌鈺) and Shih Tai-ping (石台平), both recommended by the KMT and PFP, have agreed to join the task force," Chen said.

  Lee has also served as a consultant to Lien during the election campaign.

  The pan-blue camp had used the accusations to mobilize supporters to stage protests in front of the Presidential Office and to hold a massive rally on Saturday.

  "Following the shooting incident, a national security mechanism was activated. But it did not affect the military's original plans to send soldiers back to their hometowns to cast votes in the next day's presidential elections," Chen said.

  "The activation of the national security mechanism did not have any effect on the military. The only difference was that the leaders of the national security mechanism were unable to take leave and had to stay in their offices to be in command of the situation," he said.

  Chen denied allegations by the pan-blue camp that over 200,000 service members were forced to stay on base and were deprived of their right to vote because of the activation of the security mechanism.

  "These allegations were totally irresponsible and unfounded. The Ministry of National Defense has explained again and again that only one-ninth of the service members were kept in camp to execute combat missions on the day of the elections," Chen said.

  "In comparison, one-sixth of the armed forces had to be on duty for the presidential election in 1996," he said.

  "No extra service members were added to the forces that had to stand on guard on the election day this time," he said. "All the service records are available to be checked," he said.

  Chen also attacked the blue camp for being mistrustful, saying it suspects everything that could be blamed for its election defeat.

  "How dare they allege that the Chi Mei Medical Center's treatment of Vice President Lu and me were faked and all the medical files concerning this case were forged?" he asked.

  "The dean of the Tainan-based Chi Mei Medical Center, Chan Chi-hsien (詹啟賢), was the head of the Department of Health during KMT rule. Being a respectable man who witnessed the whole medical process, would he lie for me?" Chen asked.

  The Chi Mei Medical Center was the hospital where Chen and Lu received treatment for the shootings last Friday.
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