The March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee yesterday announced that the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did not occur as reported so therefore the election could have been manipulated. The committee said it would advise the Legislative Yuan to recall the presidency according to the law.
"Two preliminary findings have been made -- the gunshot that hit President Chen Shui-bian's abdomen did not occur at 1:45pm on March 19, 2004 on Jinghwa Road Sec. 3, and was not caused by a lead bullet and the motive of this incident might be rationally derived as to manipulate the election," committee spokeswoman Wang Ching-feng (
Wang said that the committee hoped the legislature would recall Chen's presidency according to the law, and that government officials associated with the incident who did not carry out their responsibilities properly would be impeached by the Control Yuan.
The committee was to forward its report to the Legislative Yuan following the press conference.
According to the committee, the results obtained from evidence that was picked out of trash bags were unreliable, and that national security units had been involved in the incident.
For instance, the way Chen wore his pants on the day of the shooting as described in forensic expert Henry Lee's (
Regarding the shooting motive, the committee eliminated suicide, murder attempts, or a crime committed by a mental patient.
The president, according to the committee, failed to respect the Constitution and the law, which led to the absurd fight between the government and the law.
Presidential Office spokesman Chen Wen-tsung (
"With no evidence to back up its claim, to call the shooting an election manipulation is an absurd conclusion," he said.
He said that the purpose of the committee itself was largely in violation of the Constitution.
"If the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and People First Party follow the committee's advice to push to unseat Chen, there will be millions of pan-green supporters demonstrating in front of the legislature," said DPP caucus whip Lee Chun-yi (
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods