Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (
"Ma, as an important political leader of the nation, should not make groundless remarks to humiliate the police in order to achieve his political goals," Lee said in the legislature's Home and Nations Committee yesterday.
Lee said he would be very happy to have a public debate with Ma "for three days and three nights" to clear up the matter.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
On Wednesday Ma said "it will be a great humiliation for the police and judicial system if the investigation into the 319 shooting incident reaches no conclusion this time."
Lee said Ma shouldn't make such an unfair judgment because the police serve the country, not any political party.
The Taipei mayor told reporters later that investigators needed to convince the public of their findings, not him.
"Political figures should focus their efforts on finding the truth ?[Lee] doesn't need to persuade me. He should persuade all of the public," Ma said.
Both Lee and National Police Agency Director-General Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) had been asked to attend yesterday's committee meeting by People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), one of the committee's chairs, to brief members on the investigation report.
Chang Hsi-kuang (
Chang Hsien-yao had also asked Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to attend the meeting as a victim of the shooting. Lu didn't appear.
During the meeting, opposition legislators and Chang Hsi-kuang raised several questions on the shooting.
"The incident was investigated for one year and five months. While not everyone was happy with the investigation process, it was not flawed," Hou said.
Hou said he would welcome anyone who could provide new evidence to the police because it was not a problem for the police and prosecutors to reopen the investigation if there were new clues or information.
Chang Hsi-kuang said family members of alleged shooter Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) had been forced to confess that Chen was the shooter.
"Chen's family members told me that they were asked to write an apology which began with `As for the incident that Chen [Yi-hsiung] shot the president.' Originally, they had written `As for Chen's involvement [in the incident],'" Chang Hsi-kuang said.
He said the family members were asked by Prosecutor Wang San-jung (
Wang called a press conference in Tainan later in the day to say that the family members had requested that the change be made to their statement.
In other developments, DPP Legislator Wang Hsing-nan (
Meanwhile, Vice President Lu voiced her opposition yesterday to the legislature setting up a second committee to investigate the 2004 shooting.
She said any probe should be left up to the new state public prosecutor-general.
She said her opposition was based on the need to safeguard the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government.
The vice president also urged the public to respect the human rights of Chen Yi-hsiung's family to prevent the family's lives from being overly disrupted.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling and Mo Yan-chih
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it