Print

Mail

wiki links

Taiwan News Quick Take

■POLITICS

Chen-kicker attacked

Su An-sheng (蘇安生), who assaulted former representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (許世楷) last month and kicked former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) last week was attacked by two unidentified men in their forties or fifties with iron bars and wooden poles yesterday. According to Su’s account to police, the incident took place 9:40am on Taipei City’s Renai Road as he was riding his bicycle. Su said the attackers sped off in a small car. After receiving a call from a witness who said there was a fight on the street, the Taipei Fire Department arrived at the scene and took Su to Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital, where he was treated for an open fracture of the left elbow and dislocation of the left wrist. After kicking Chen, Su went on TV and demonstrated what he did to Chen, challenging pan-green supporters “to come and fight.”.



■DIPLOMACY

Hu leaves for Marshalls

Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) departed for the Marshall Islands yesterday to preside over a ceremony in which Taiwan would donate 200 bicycles and five computers for use by the islands’ students. In a statement issued on Friday, Hu said he would also visit Kwajalein Atoll, one of the Marshall Islands’ largest cities. He said he has special feelings for the Marshall Islands because diplomatic ties were established in 1998 when he served as the foreign minister. Kwajalein Atoll is home to the Marshall Islands’ former president Imata Kabua, Senator Michael Kabua and Foreign Minister Tony deBrum, the statement said. DeBrum visited Taiwan last year along with a delegation of officials and congressmen in his capacity as a senator. During a meeting with Hu, deBrum asked Taiwan to donate bicycles and computers to help the islands’ students. Hu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to make the donation this year, prompting deBrum to invite him to preside over the donation ceremony.



■CRIME

Costa Rican ministry raided

Costa Rican justice officials raided the offices of the interior minister on Friday, seizing documents related to million-dollar donations from Taiwan that were allegedly diverted. Earlier this week opposition deputy Alberto Salom accused Minister of the Interior Fernando Zumbado of diverting part of US$2.5 million donated by Taiwan in 2006 for building homes for the poor in western San Jose. The documents were seized from Zumbado’s offices one day after he testified to a parliamentary commission on the case. Zumbado, who was suspended while the case was being probed, said decisions on handling the funds were taken by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, which oversees the use of the money.



■CRIME

Koh sues KMT lawmakers

Former representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (許世楷) said on Friday he planned to file a slander lawsuit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) and Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇). Lu and Wu last month criticized the way Koh handled the collision between a Taiwanese fishing boat and a Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel near the disputed Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islands, calling him a “traitor” and a “liar.” Koh immediately tendered his resignation after the comments and rejected a request by Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) to report to the Legislative Yuan, saying that “a soldier can be killed on field, but cannot be humiliated.” Both Wu and Lu reacted to Koh’s plan by saying they “welcome the lawsuit.”
This story has been viewed 931 times.