The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday said there is still the question of “political and moral flaws” in the case involving Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) investment in a biotechnology company, “despite the absence of a judicial ruling.”
The Taipei District Court on Tuesday ruled former Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) to pay Tsai NT$2 million (US$61,189) for defamation over her accusation that Tsai violated revolving-door laws by investing in biotechnology company TaiMed Biologics Inc (中裕新藥).
The case against Tsai was closed in August 2012 after no irregularities were found.
Photo: CNA
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) dismissed the DPP’s demand that the KMT apologize for its accusations about Tsai.
“It is Tsai who needs to apologize, and she was supposed to do it four years ago,” Wu said. “If it were [KMT Chairman] Eric Chu (朱立倫) who invested in the company in the capacity of former vice premier of the Executive Yuan, would the DPP attack Chu, even if the investment had been made after he left the post?”
“This case raises concerns in two areas; the judicial, and the political and moral. The only reason that Tsai avoided violating the law is because the revolving-door laws of this nation do not restrict the actions of premiers and vice premiers,” Wu said. “It is only because we lack the pertinent regulations that Tsai was not found culpable.”
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) agreed with Wu, adding that the Control Yuan in October 2013 issued a “25-page corrective report” addressing the shortfalls in the court’s investigation.
“If [a person] is afraid of making apologies, they are not qualified to run for president,” Wu said.
Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said Tsai should clearly explain to the public whether she had made an effort to avoid a conflict of interests.
When asked whether the KMT needs to apologize, Wu said the case “has absolutely nothing to do with the KMT; Tsai is the one who is involved.”
A group of DPP lawmakers held a separate press conference, lambasting the KMT for not understanding how to “engage in introspection.”
On Tuesday, Chu, in response to the DPP’s demand for an an apology, said that the case “is not directly related to the KMT.”
Liu said yesterday that she would appeal the ruling.
Additional reporting by Staff Writer
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400