One of the key organizers of the campaign to oust the president for alleged graft resigned yesterday in disgrace after it emerged that her political party kicked her out because she was convicted on bribery charges 12 years ago.
Wang Li-ping (
Wang said that she would continue to be associated with the anti-corruption campaign as a volunteer.
Wang was convicted of bribery during the Yunlin County Council speaker election in 1994. She received a seven-month jail sentence, and a two-year suspended sentence.
She also came under fire yesterday for getting caught leaving the "around-the-clock sit-in" protest to go to a sauna.
Wang confirmed that she did go to a sauna, saying that she was tired at the time and needed a place to rest.
The DPP recently questioned Wang's credibility in taking part in the anti-corruption campaign, and decided to revoke her membership Friday.
The anti-President Chen Shui-bian (
Meanwhile, other Shih campaign backers were also coming under fire.
DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) questioned the motives of anti-Chen "consultant" Hsu Po-yun (許博允), who traveled to China via Macau three days ago.
Wang Shih-cheng accused Hsu of reporting to Chinese authorities on the progress of the anti-Chen campaign on behalf of Shih, then receiving further instructions.
The anti-Chen campaign's news coordinator, Chang Fu-chung (張富忠), said Wang Shih-cheng's charges were pure fantasy, and that the headquarters was under no obligation to clarify details of Hsu's trip.
Hsu is reportedly in Xinjiang attending an international "Asian culture coalition" conference.
When contacted by reporters, Hsu condemned Wang Shih-cheng's charges. He said he would return to Taiwan this Thursday or Friday to clarify the situation, and that he had not ruled out suing Wang Shih-cheng.
Meanwhile, the anti-Chen campaign announced that it will move its protest site to Jinan Road on the east side of the Legislative Yuan after its permit to occupy Ketagalan Boulevard expires at midnight on Wednesday.
The anti-Chen camp also outlined the route it planned to take for a "siege" on Sept. 30, which it hopes will attract more protesters than the Sept. 15 "siege."
Luo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), a spokeswoman for the camp, said the rally will begin at Jinan Road at 3pm, and march along Zhongshan S Road, Nanjing E Road, Jianguo S Road and Renai Road.
The rally is scheduled to return to Jinan Road at midnight.
In addition to demanding the resignation of the president, the parade is also calling for ethnic reconciliation following violence between pro-Chen and anti-Chen protesters in several demonstrations around the nation.
"The goal of the campaign is to fight against corruption, but the focus of the protest has been shifted to ethnic confrontation. Therefore we want this parade to bring reconciliation to all ethnic groups," she said yesterday.
The rally, entitled the "seven-color peace parade," will also aim to move away from the focus on the color red -- with which the camp has become closely associated in recent weeks -- and embrace the colors of the rainbow.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS