Lawmakers across party lines fell over themselves yesterday to comment on the departure of the president's son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), for the US on Friday -- continuing a recent trend to hold the private activities of the first family accountable to the legislature.
Noting the deterioration in the health of Chen's mother, first lady Wu Shu-jen (
Wu was in court on Friday morning for the "state affairs fund" case. She faces prosecution along with three presidential aides.
Chen's departure for the US might prove that KMT Legislator Chiu Yi's (邱毅) previous charges against him were correct, said Chou, referring to Chiu's earlier accusation that he was in the process of applying for US residence.
Chou said he suspected Chen went to the US to take care of follow-up procedures for his immigration application or to finalize an alleged real estate investment.
Chiu yesterday claimed Chen went to the US to dodge prosecutors' possible interrogation of him over alleged perjury in the "state affairs fund" case.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Kuo-ching (
Chen's wife Huang Jui-ching (
"Just like [Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's (
"We didn't have to come back so early because [there was still time] before I was due to have the baby, but the media made us come back in a hurry, so now he has to go back to take care of some things," Huang said.
The couple returned to Taiwan before the mayoral election on Dec. 9 amid wrangling between the pan-blue and pan-green camps on whether Huang would give birth to the president's grandchild in the US and make the president break his promise of not becoming a "grandfather of an American."
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
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American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
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