The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday questioned links between Nantou’s county chief, the premier and a convicted felon.
Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) alleged association with a former Nantou County gang boss shows the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) rallying cry for clean governance was nothing but hot air, said DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), demanding Wu explain his connections with a twice-convicted murderer or resign from his post.
Local media reported Wu and his wife were caught on camera vacationing in Bali, Indonesia, with Nantou County Magistrate Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) and Chiang Chin-liang (江欽良), reportedly a crime boss in the county.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said the 43 year-old Chiang was convicted of murder for slaying a Changhua gangster and a Nantou County council member in 1983 and 1985 respectively. He fled from prison in 1989 during a hospital visit and was recaptured a year later, she said, adding that his rap sheet included more than 30 counts of illegal arms sales, extortion, assault and robbery.
In 2000, Chiang was released on early parole from his 20-year sentence and has since dominated the night market scene in Nantou.
While Wu dubbed Chiang a “changed man” who has turned his back on crime and dedicated the last decade of his life to charity work, DPP lawmakers said he was still heavily involved in underground syndicates and that Wu should step down over his links with Chiang.
DPP candidate for the Nantou County commissioner seat Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) also accused Lee Chao-ching of giving favors to Chiang through a monopoly on the gravel business in the county.
“Lee Chao-ching has claimed the Bali trip was purely a fact finding mission to help Nantou develop its tourism. If that was the case, why didn’t he apply for official leave instead of taking the days off as personal vacation time,” Lee Wen-chung said yesterday.
Tsai said Wu should address a rumor that Chiang’s people physically assaulted Non-Partisan Party candidate Chen Chen-sheng (陳振盛) and Chiang’s association with the local gravel industry.
The Ministry of the Interior will never win the fight against crime if the premier is friendly with gangsters, Tsai said.
Lee Chao-ching at a separate press conference yesterday denied all allegations on Chiang’s reported involvement in the gravel business and stressed all Nantou County gravel business tenders are conducted by transparent public bidding.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), Chiang defended himself, saying he had paid his debt to society and is now an ordinary man trying to make an honest living and contribute to his community.
“This whole thing was staged by the DPP as an election maneuver, digging up mistakes I made more than 20 years ago,” he said.
Yesterday, Wu, who usally fields questions from reporters in person, issued a short statement instead.
In the statement, Wu said he has been a person of integrity during his political career of more than 30 years and his activities stand up to scrutiny.
Wu said he considers parolees to be normal people and believes they should receive encouragement and support from society if they sincerely repent.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) urged the DPP to present evidence to back its accusations and take the case to court instead of spreading “rumors” to sabotage Wu and Lee Chao-ching.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN AND FLORA WANG
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS