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Presidential Office speaks out to defend first family

The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed allegations against the first lady and her daughter, calling them personal attacks that were both cruel and inappropriate.

"The Presidential Office feels deep regret over the groundless allegation made by former [Democratic Progressive Party] legislator Ju Gau-jeng (朱高正)," a statement issued yesterday afternoon said. "It not only is cruel to the physically challenged but also seriously damages the image of the first lady."

Ju said on a TV talk show that first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) loves money and that she finds money is the best and only protection for her.

Ju told the audience that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) father was very close to him and that he had once told him that he did not want to visit Wu's family again because her family was well-off, while his was a poor farming family.

Ju also said that Wu was so dominating that she forced Chen to choose a political career.

The Presidential Office said Chen had been a lawyer before venturing into politics and that after the "Kaohsiung Incident," Wu encouraged Chen to commit himself to Taiwan's democratic development and had supported his volunteering to defend the accused in the "Kaohsiung Incident."

Chen later quit his law practice to enter politics.

The Presidential Office rejected an allegation that Sogo Department Store had sealed off the No. 23 shopping area on its ninth floor for Chen's daughter Chen Hsin-yu (陳幸妤) in the summer of 2004.

Noted political commentator Hu Chung-hsin (胡忠信) made the claim on Monday.

The Presidential Office said Chen Hsin-yu would not have been shopping for business clothes at that time because she was six-months pregnant.

On Monday Sogo dismissed the allegation, saying that it would have been impossible to close off an area for Chen Hsin-yu and noting that its woman's business attire section was on the third floor, not the ninth.

Chen Hsin-yu has already filed a lawsuit against Hu over his allegation on a TV talk show last October that she had opened a US bank account specifically to launder money for her father.

Hu claimed the president's daughter had used the pretext of a meeting in the US to travel there to open a bank account to help her father conceal his assets.

Hu's claim was picked up by several Chinese Web sites, which described Taiwan's first family as a "criminal ring."
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