Crowds of pan-blue demonstrator are likely to return to Ketagalan Boulevard on Sunday night now that People First Party (PFP) Legislator Yang Fu-mei (
The candlelight event will run from 6pm to 9:30pm, with a primary focus on "pursuing the truth of the election" -- a slogan that has been promoted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-PFP alliance in its effort to challenge the results of the presidential election.
"The event will be carried out in a peaceful manner as we press our appeal," said Chen Hsin-ju (
President Chen Shui-bian (
open question
Claiming the election was "unfair," Lien refused to concede defeat and the KMT-PFP alliance staged a series of large-scale protests between the election and April 10 in front of the Presidential Office.
Both the PFP and the KMT headquarters said they had no prior knowledge of the event, but KMT Spokeswoman Kuo Su-chun (
Chen Hsin-ju said that the event was expected to attract in excess of 300 people. Given that Soong is out of the country and that Lien is likely to be preoccupied with his "thanksgiving tour," which is slated to take him to southern Taiwan this weekend, the identity of potential participants in the event remains an open question.
`mysterious'
Meanwhile, still refusing to let go of the election-eve assassination attempt on Chen Shui-bian and Lu, Lien yesterday urged Chen to "repent and be saved" (
Chen and Lu were both lightly wounded in the assassination attempt, which occurred on March 19 in Tainan. Calling the incident "mysterious," the KMT-PFP alliance has claimed that the shooting was staged in order to win sympathy votes for Chen.
ballistics
"Chen should turn passiveness into initiative and help push for the formation of an independent task force to investigate the shooting and let the truth come to light," Lien said.
Lien made the remarks at the party's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday after receiving a report delivered by retired army general Shui Hua-ming (
Shui said that his findings were based on ballistics tests conducted in the US.
Shui said the data they obtained from their tests are similar to those released by the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) -- except for a few points.
data
Shui said that the testing showed that in the case of a homemade 8mm lead bullet being fired from a homemade 9mm handgun with a smooth-bore barrel -- and with a bullet velocity lower than 162m per second -- a cartridge casing could not be automatically ejected and the gun could not be fired consecutively.
Therefore, Shui said, the CIB's conclusion that "there was only one criminal with one gun and two bullets" could not stand.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Chen offered to find "the world's best marksman" so that the shooting could be duplicated -- with Lien standing in for Chen -- to determine if it were possible to stage such a shooting.
Lien has so far not taken Chen up on his proposal.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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