The dispute over the "defamatory" VCDs continued to heat up as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to join his party in denouncing "filthy electronic blackmail."
Quoting his DPP counterpart Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and saying it was "ultra-low class" to try to and win an election by making and spreading slanderous VCDs, Ma said yesterday during a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council that "the VCDs are nothing but electronic blackmail, and I think the DPP should join us in denouncing such smear tactics."
Taoyuan County prosecutors summoned Lin Yi-fang (林一方), producer of the VCD allegedly smearing Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) for questioning yesterday, but Lin did not show.
The prosecutors said they will summon him again to get more information about the dispute.
Asked by KMT Councilor Chen Li-hui (陳孋輝) yesterday whether the KMT should make a "truth" VCD to fight back against all the accusations, Ma said the party will not get involved in negative campaigning.
"I never said the DPP produced the VCDs, and I don't know why they accused me of saying such things," Ma said, referring to the filing of a slander lawsuit against him and KMT spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) by the DPP yesterday.
Meanwhile, KMT Taipei City Councilor Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) yesterday slammed the DPP government for misleading the public into believing that only retired high-rank officials from the pan-blue camp enjoyed the 18 percent preferential interest rate on their savings.
Lin said that Chunghwa Telecom chairman Ho Chen-tan (賀陳旦) and former China Steel Corp (中鋼) chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵), who were Taipei City government officials when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was mayor enjoyed the preferential interest rate on their savings after they retired from the city government and before they took their current posts.
"The 18-percent interest rate policy is not just a pan-blue issue, and not a pan-green one either. It is a policy designed to take care of civil servants," Lin said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard