The Presidential Office received another threat against President Chen Shui-bian (
It was the fourth threat made against members of the first family within the course of a week.
The previous three targeted the president's daughter Chen Hsing-yu (
Lee said the e-mail, sent by someone describing themselves as the "black killer," contained threats to shoot the president with two bullets, kidnap his grandsons and sexually assault his daughter.
Later yesterday, the Presidential Office made the content public.
Lee said that the message had been handed to the police and that security for the president and his family would be increased.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday condemned the violent threats sent to the president and to members of his family.
However, he also called on the president not to take advantage of the situation to create social disturbances or foster ethnic conflict.
"President Chen should bring reconciliation to society, rather than triggering conflict and turmoil," Ma said in Matsu.
KMT caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (
Dismissing such accusations, Lee said yesterday that "gloating over the matter was not different to encouraging crime and violence."
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) yesterday said the opposition should avoid double standards.
"Any violence should be condemned and spurned. You cannot only take it seriously when the threats are against KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou," he said.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Flora Wang
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast