People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
When approached by reporters on his way to a new book launch, Soong said that at the time the US government sent then-American Institute in Taiwan director Douglas Paal to make the promise in a bid to persuade them to end the pan-blue camp's violent demonstrations on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
Soong said that the US government later broke its promise after pan-blue supporters withdrew from the boulevard.
He did not present any evidence to substantiate his claim.
The assassination attempt took place during a campaign motorcade in Tainan on March 19, 2004.
Chen and Lu were both shot during the event. Bullets grazed Chen's stomach and hit Lu's knee, but the injuries were not life-threatening.
Lien and Soong, who ran on the same ticket in the election, lost the presidential election one day later by just 29,518 votes.
Lien and Soong called Chen and Lu's victory unfair and demanded a recount while many pan-blue supporters refused to recognize the result of the election and staged a demonstration on the boulevard.
Soong said yesterday that recent comments by forensics expert Henry Lee (李昌鈺) regarding the shooting represented a warning signal from the US to Chen that the US could expose the "truth" about the shooting.
Soong was referring to a report by the Chinese-language China Times on Thursday, which quoted Lee as saying that Lu was the prime target of the shooting.
However, later on Thursday, Judy Cheng (
Lee said he could not infer that Lu was the main target of the shooter from traces left at the scene.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai