Premier Frank Hsieh (
"[Chen] has submitted his resignation to me regarding his being indicted for allegedly buying votes for his daughter Chen Ying (
Chen Chien-nien was indicted for allegedly buying votes for his daughter. Nevertheless, Chen Ying just won her fist legislative campaign last December and is now a Democratic Progressive Party Aboriginal legislator.
Hsieh made his remarks when he was approached by reporters during a seminar with local county commissioners and city mayors in Taitung yesterday.
"However, please do not get me wrong: Chen Chien-nien's resigning from his post does not mean he is guilty," the premier said. "Before being tried, everybody is innocent. He resigned only because he is afraid of damaging the Cabinet's public image and reputation. That is all."
In the meantime, Hsieh also mentioned that no law stipulates that a public official must step down immediately once he is indicted. However, he understood Chen Chien-nien's concerns about the effect of the charges on the government.
Chen Ying insisted that her father is innocent in Taipei yesterday. She said that her father was sacrificed because of the hatred between different political parties.
"[Prosecutors] indicted my father even though they had not collected sufficient evidence," Chen said. "I will definitely appeal for my father in the future no matter what, until he is proclaimed innocent."
Chen Chien-nien was indicted by Taitung Prosecutor Yang Ta-chih (
During the Hualien County commissioner by-election in the summer of 2003, Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) launched a 24-hour roadside check of motorists to prevent vote-buying. Yang complained and said the check was unconstitutional. His criticism irritated his superiors, including then-justice minister Chen Ding-nan (
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
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS