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Presidential Office receives new threat letter against Chen

The Presidential Office strongly condemned all forms of violence yesterday after receiving a letter from someone who threatened to kill President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), rape his daughter and kidnap her family.

"We have handed the letter to the police and will strengthen security for the president and his family," Presidential Office Spokesman David Lee (李南陽) said.

Lee said Taiwan is a country governed by the rule of law and that the Presidential Office denounced all forms of violence.

"We condemn such violent threats as they seriously sabotage the harmony of society," he said.

Lee made the remarks after Chen revealed yesterday afternoon that the Presidential Office had received the letter.

Lee said he received the New Year's card yesterday morning, asking him to inform "A-bian" (Chen's nickname) to be careful because he could get "two bullets," his grandson Chao Yi-an (趙翊安) could be kidnapped and his daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) could be raped.

The card was forwarded to the internal affairs department and later to police and intelligence officials, Lee said.

Expressing his bafflement at the motives behind the threat, the president said he wondered whether the nation's democratization may have gone awry or that the administration had been mistaken in its efforts to push for transitional justice.

"As a responsible politician, I have the courage to accept the consequences of my actions," he said.

"I am willing to do my best to cope with the persecution, but I am asking you to give me a hand if the burden gets too heavy for me to carry," he said yesterday afternoon while addressing members of the Friends of A-bian Club in Taipei.

This was the third threatening letter the president's family had received.

The Chinese-language Apple Daily on Dec. 5 received a handwritten postcard asking the president to apologize for saying that pan-blue supporters should swim to China if they liked China so much.

The letter also contained a threat to attack the dental clinic where Chen Hsing-yu works unless she apologized on behalf of her father.

The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) received another postcard on Wednesday making the same demand and threatening to attack the president's only son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), and his family.

Investigators believe the two letters may have been written by the same individual and may have been sent from Jhonghe (中和).

National Security Bureau chief Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐) has confirmed that Chen Hsing-yu has left the country with her children, but denied that the trip was related to the threat.
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