Vice President Annette Lu (
"All evidence has proved that I was the first target to be shot (on March 19), yet many people still promoted their theories against me, which makes me feel like I'm being assassinated again," Lu said yesterday at a Presidential Office reception for a Singapore think tank.
Despite theories by the police and other government investigators that the shooter was aiming at President Chen Shui-bian (
She said the disputes over the shooting incident and their effect on the presidential election should be treated as a serious issue by all countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and thanked her guests for their expressions of concern.
Lu stressed that the obstacles to Taiwan's democratic development can hardly be imagined by people of other countries, citing her experiences of being jailed for participating in opposition activities and developing cancer due to her intense commitment to leading the nation's feminist movement.
"I had never thought that I would be shot on the eve of the election," Lu said, "and I was able to survive because of a miracle."
She said that the country's democracy, freedom, progress and prosperity are not presents given by the gods, but are hard-won fruits earned by the efforts of all Taiwanese people.
"Taiwan is an independent country, whether other countries in the world admit it or not," she said, "and our efforts to seek democracy and peace will not surrender to any violence or military threat."
"The international community and some individual countries always adopt their own perspective to understand Taiwan, so I would like to provide the Taiwanese view to assist those foreign guests and countries in understanding Taiwan," Lu said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
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