Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
While Ma yesterday described Hsieh as the "head of the secret service" for coming up with a series of allegations against him, Hsieh said he did not deserve the title because he did not torture Ma to force him to reveal his own irregularities.
"Ma puts himself in an embarrassing situation because he does not tell the truth," Hsieh said. "He should do some soul searching of his own."
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
The Hsieh camp yesterday continued to pressure Ma to explain whether he had taken bribes from an architect's association in exchange for revising a renovation code in their favor.
Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), a Hsieh camp spokesperson, claimed that Ma accepted NT$500,000 from Taipei City's Association of Architects in 1998 when Ma was city mayor and a renovation code was amended in 2001 in favor of architects.
Chiu asked Ma to offer a clear account on whether there was any connection between the two.
Shen Fa-hui (
Another Hsieh spokesperson Hsieh Hsin-ni (
Hsieh Hsin-ni said she would like to know whether Ma's wealth had anything to do with the "outstanding" ability of financial management of his wife, Chow Mei-ching (
While the Ma camp admitted that Chow did sell some shares of Mega Financial Holdings (兆豐金控) between July 13, 2004, and Sept. 13, 2004, Hsieh Hsin-ni said that she would like to know why the timing was so perfect that the share prices had gone back up again since Chow sold the stocks.
"I think she deserves the title `the 2008 queen of stocks,'" Hsieh Hsin-ni said.
In response, Ma spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (
In related developments, the Hsieh camp yesterday also questioned the relationship between Beijing and a Taiwanese business association, saying that the association is staffed with high-ranking Chinese officials.
Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), a Hsieh camp spokesperson, said the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland was ostensibly is an organization serving China-based Taiwanese businesspeople but in fact is controlled by the Chinese government.
Hsiao said the honorary chairman of the association is Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), director of the Chinese State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO). The vice chairman and secretary-general is He Shizhong (何世忠), director of TAO's Economic Bureau, Hsiao said.
Two of the association's advisors are Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), deputy director of the TAO, and Li Bingcai (李炳才), standing deputy director of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, she said.
Hsiao said China's attempt to interfere in Taiwan's election is apparent because flight discounts have been offered to China-based Taiwanese businesspeople returning home between March 1 and March 22, the day of the presidential election.
Hsieh said in Kaohsiung yesterday that those who found offering flight discounts to eligible voters returning home to vote for specific candidates would run the risk of breaking the law if such an incident happened in Taiwan.
Ma, at a separate setting yesterday, said China ought to be condemned if its intervention in Taiwan's presidential election were found to be true.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday demanded that Somalia reverse its decision prohibiting Taiwanese passport holders from entering or transiting through the country. Somalia said it is following the “one China” principle based on UN Resolution 2758. The ministry said that Somalia is misinterpreting the resolution under China’s instigation, creating a false impression that Taiwan is subordinate to China. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority told airlines on Tuesday last week that starting today, any passengers with passports or travel documents issued from Taiwan or its affiliated institutions would not be allowed to enter or transit through Somalia. The decision comes as Taiwan is boosting
RSS