The People First Party (PFP) legislators who were accused of slander by the Presidential Office refused to apologize yesterday and tried to shift the focus of attention off themselves to the recent allegations about the government's overseas donations.
UFO Radio chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) was also unrepentant yesterday, saying he would take legal action if Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) did not apologize for calling him names within three days.
The Presidential Office yesterday pressed charges against PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), Legislator Tsai Chung-han (蔡中涵) and Jaw for accusing President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of giving US$1 million to former Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso as a birthday gift.
Liu said yesterday that he would "examine and reflect on the usage of settlement fee" to signify the US$ 1 million.
"But the real problem here is that the government uses secret budgets to provide financial aid to foreign governments and yet it still fails to gain diplomatic advantages. We should not shift the [media] focus to the lawsuit," Liu said.
Liu said that PFP colleagues had told him to refine his language, and so he would examine himself accordingly.
"But this is still more refined than Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen's (陳唐山) talk of LP [lam pa]," Liu argued.
Liu said he had wanted to retaliate by suing Su for calling him a "rogue politician," but then PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) persuaded him not to.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus, meanwhile, gave its support to the Presidential Office's lawsuit. The caucus also demanded Soong make an apology or it might end negotiations with its PFP counterpart.
"Liu quoted information from the Chinese government and falsely accused President Chen," DPP caucus whip Lee Chun-yee (
"The PFP should immediately remove Liu from its legislators-at-large list and Soong should offer an apology, or we will consider closing all negotiations with the PFP," Lee said.
Liu is ranked No. 1 on the PFP legislators-at-large list for the next legislature.
Jaw also demanded Su apologize to him for calling him a "rogue media professional."
"I will decide on what action to take based on Su's response," Jaw said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
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