A trial began yesterday at the Taipei District Court in the libel suit Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) filed against award-winning screenwriter and author Neil Peng (馮光遠).
The lawsuit centers on comments Peng made about King’s personal relationship with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Peng told reporters outside the court that he does not fear the lawsuit, adding: “King has enjoyed great political power because of his sexual relationship with Ma.”
“Come out of the closet, Ma,” he said.
During the hearing, Peng told the court that King has directed government policies and personnel changes unrelated to the government posts he has held.
King has no experience in foreign affairs, but was appointed representative to the US, and now he has been named as a national security advisor without any background in this field, Peng told the judges.
“Taiwan is a country led by two people who are in a special sexual relationship,” Peng said, adding that Ma and King have jeopardized Taiwan’s democracy, which was established by generations of Taiwanese.
Peng told the court that his comments about King have all been made publicly and should be protected by law.
In postings on his blog and Facebook page Peng has written: “We are about to have a public discussion about whether President Ma Ying-jeou is a closet homosexual and how their [his and King’s] relationship, which people have speculated about for years, has affected Taiwan’s democracy.”
In response to a question from a lawmaker during a legislative session in December last year, which King was attending in his role as representative to the US, King said he was not gay and was not in a relationship with Ma.
King, 57, has long been seen as Ma’s closest aide. He served as deputy Taipei mayor during the last two years of Ma’s term as mayor, Ma appointed him Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) secretary-general in 2008 and he was executive director of Ma’s re-election campaign office for the 2012 presidential election.
Ma has reportedly picked him to be the next secretary-general of the National Security Council.
In an unrelated trial, the Shilin District Court yesterday ruled against the Chinese-language Next Magazine in a libel suit brought by Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠).
The magazine’s Nov. 16, 2011, edition said that Ma had met with bookie Chen Ying-chu (陳盈助) in Chiayi in September 2011, while campaigning in the city for the 2012 election, through an introduction by Huang, who is a KMT member.
The story said Ma had asked Chen, who allegedly runs major underground betting in election-related activities for local elections, for a donation of NT$300 million (US$9.9 million).
The Shilin District Court ruled that Next must pay Huang NT$200,000 in compensation, although the magazine can appeal yesterday’s ruling to the Taiwan High Court.
Ma and Chen also filed lawsuits over the magazine story. The president filed a defamation suit against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its spokesperson for alleging that he had met with Chen to raise campaign funds, while Chen sued Next.
Additional reporting by staff writer
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS