A crowd numbering about 1,000 people staged a rally in Greater Tainan yesterday, demanding the truth about the “319” assassination attempt and medical parole for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as they commemorated the 10th anniversary of the controversial shooting incident.
The shooting on March 19, 2004, also known as the 319 Incident, took place one day before the presidential election while then-president Chen and then-vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) were electioneering in a motorcade in Tainan. A bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and left a 13cm wound, while another bullet hit Lu in the knee.
The authorities later identified the shooter as Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who was found dead 10 days after the incident.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
However, Lu and Chen Shui-bian have said that there are many aspects of the case that remained unanswered or questionable.
Lu on Tuesday renewed her call for answers and urged authorities to reopen the case.
Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), son of the former president, also took part in the rally yesterday, joined by a number of Democratic Progressive Party and independent Greater Tainan councilors.
Saying that the pan-blue camp at the time of the incident sought to malign his father by accusing him of staging the shooting to win votes, Chen Chih-chung called on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to offer an explanation to the public as to why it is still unable to uncover the truth behind the assassination attempt — six years after taking the reins of government.
He also called on the authorities to grant parole to his father — who is in Taichung Prison’s Pei Teh Hospital serving a 20-year term for corruption — for the sake of his poor health.
The former president has been diagnosed with various complications, including a degenerative brain disease, severe depression, sleep apnea, non-typical Parkinson’s disease, a speech disorder and mild cerebral atrophy.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
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
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai