Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday he would sue Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) for slander after he said Hsieh fabricated a tape in 1998 accusing his rival in that year’s Kaohsiung mayoral election of having an affair.
Hsieh ran full-page ads in newspapers yesterday rebutting the claim and later held a press conference.
Hsieh said Kaohsiung prosecutors had recently decided not to indict him under the Election and Recall Act for Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法) in a case that his rival in the mayoral election, Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), had filed over the tape incident.
“I passed a lie detector test during the [investigation]. In the three-hour test I did not tell one lie,” Hsieh said.
He said Chiu and two other political commentators needed to provide evidence proving he was behind the tape or he would sue them for slander.
Just weeks before the 1998 election, then-DPP Kaohsiung City councilor Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生) released an audio tape suggesting that Wu, who was seeking re-election as Kaohsiung mayor, had had an affair with a female reporter.
Wu filed a lawsuit against Chen and in September 2005 a judge ruled that the tape was a fake.
In December 2006, Chen said Hsieh had given him the tape and asked him to release it. Hsieh then filed a slander lawsuit against Chen.
Asked for comment, Wu yesterday called Hsieh “vicious.”
“Chen Chun-sheng’s press conference was arranged by the Hsieh camp. Hsieh is so vicious. That’s why he is surrounded by so many scandals,” Wu said.
Responding to Hsieh’s threat to sue him, Chiu said: “He is wicked. Normal men like us would never do evil things [like he did].”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition