Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) yesterday urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to apologize to the public and resign his chairmanship to assume responsibility for a vote-buying scandal.
Tsai said now that Kaohsiung prosecutors had "proved" a bribery allegation involving a member of KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying's (黃俊英) camp was true, the KMT should stop pressuring prosecutors in an effort to "confuse the public" about the investigation.
Huang was accused of vote-buying by his rival DPP mayoral candidate Chen Chu's (陳菊) campaign headquarters on the eve of mayoral election held last Saturday.
Tsai said DPP evidence given to the prosecutors on election day all "pointed to Huang or KMT staffers," and now the prosecutors' findings had "proven" the KMT guilty.
He urged prosecutors to investigate further into the case to see who was behind the bribery or if there was a bigger plot behind it.
He also urged the KMT to stop pressuring prosecutors by employing "dirty tricks," adding that Kaohsiung citizens needed a break after the mayoral election.
Tsai was responding to a half-page advertisement placed by the KMT on four major Chinese-language newspapers yesterday, which charged DPP mayoral candidate Chen Chu's camp with playing dirty tricks on the eve of the election to discredit Huang.
Chen's camp held a late-night press conference before the election, alleging that a number of Chen supporters working undercover witnessed a staffer of Huang hand out "cash envelopes" to people on two buses returning from Huang's campaign rally.
The bus' passengers were also instructed to vote for Huang, Chen's camp alleged.
"Although the election is over, it looks as if the KMT is still running an election campaign," he said. "We believe this case will be solved soon and we will see that the KMT cannot justify their actions."
He suggested that the KMT should amend the Public Officials' Election and Recall Law (公務人員選舉罷免法) so that "the procedure of recounting ballots will be automatically initiated whenever the KMT is dissatisfied with the election results."
"We have seen that the KMT cannot stand losing the election, but we have not heard Ma say he will resign if Huang were found guilty of buying votes," director of DPP's Department of Culture and Information Super Meng (孟義超) 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