Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said in a memoir made public yesterday that former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) would have complicated the investigation into the 2004 attempt on their lives had she gone public with her theory that she was the main target.
The 12,000-word memoir, made available by Chen’s office yesterday, will appear in this week’s edition of Neo Formosa Weekly.
Chen said he believed there were two bullets, with the first one hitting the windshield and then Lu, while the second one grazed his stomach.
“I told her that no matter what happened, it was absolutely unlikely that the bullet hit you before it hit me,” Chen said.
On March 19, 2004, a bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and another hit Lu’s knee as they were campaigning in Tainan. The pan-blue camp said the shooting was staged to win sympathy votes. It later became known as the “319 Incident.”
The Tainan Prosecutor’s 胝ffice concluded in 2005 that it was the work of Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), a lone shooter who was found dead 10 days after the incident.
Lu later published a book, Putting 319 in Perspective: One Truth, One Taiwan, in which she said she doubted that Chen Yi-hsiung was the lone shooter and suggested that people betting on the results of the election could have backed the assassination attempt. Other possible culprits behind the incident were China, the pan-blue or even the pan-green camp, she said.
Chen said in his memoir that after Lu was hit, she told her good friend turned 計olitical commentator, Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏), that she had taken a bullet for the president and the people of Taiwan. She even telephoned then-Presidential Office secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and asked him to back her story, Chen said.
“Luckily, Chiou did not make such an announcement, or the result of the subsequent investigation would have been different,” he said. “It would have complicated the matter for no reason.”
He said he was surprised and upset when he learned that all his campaign activities were canceled after he was shot. However, he gave in because his wife strongly opposed any more campaigning, he said.
Chen said his election rival, 耶hinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰), was waiting at the presidential residence to see him, while Lien’s running mate, James Soong (宋楚瑜), was on his way to see Lu.
Chen said he turned Lien away because former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin I-虐siung (林義雄) was with him at the time.
Lu issued a statement yesterday rebutting Chen’s description of events.
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS