Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials yesterday urged the convener of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Shih Chi-yang (
The DPP officials said such commentary only exposed the essence of the committee, which was contempt for the law.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
In a news conference held after the DPP's weekly Central Standing Committee, the officials showed video footage from two call-in TV shows aired Monday night in which committee member Yeh Yao-peng (
"Yeh's behavior gave the game away. The investigative committee is simply a means for the pan-blue camp to denigrate the president," DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said.
"We strongly suspected that the pan-blue camp wanted to use this committee to overturn the results of the presidential election in case it loses the election lawsuit that will be judged soon," Chung said.
Chung said committee members are supposed to obey a gag order, but Yeh has been talking about his theories on shootings ever since March 20 and has continued to do so despite being chosen as a committee member.
Chung asked Shin to make it clear to the committee members that they cannot comment on the case.
"Otherwise, people will quickly perceive the illegitimacy of this organization," Chung said.
According to Chung, Vice President Annette Lu (
In related news, Chung said DPP headquarters would not get involved in the debate over whether the party should expel former Examination Yuan member Tsai Wen-pin (
Chung said that the party branch in Tainan City will handle the case.
"But it is obvious that Tsai diverges from the party's stance," Chung said.
Earlier in the day, the DPP launched four campaign teams for the December legislative elections.
The teams will be led by DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), Premier Yu Shyi-kun, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to help boost momentum for the campaign.
According to Chang, 108 campaign rallies will be held around the country, starting this Saturday and running through the middle of next month.
Each of the four campaign team leaders is responsible for hosting 27 rallies.
Chung said the DPP is quite optimistic about its election chances, based on its latest poll.
He said the pan-green camp has reached the "magic number" of 110 to 115 probable legislative seats, moving the DPP closer to its goal of dominating the Legislative Yuan.
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
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang