Representative to Japan and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said that his son, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Hsieh Wei-chou (謝維洲), has only himself to blame for the large debt he accrued from playing the sports lottery.
Media outlets last week reported that Hsieh Wei-chou was introduced to the sports lottery by friends he met during his military service and significantly raised the stakes of his wagers after he was elected Taipei city councilor in 2014.
Frank Hsieh said on Facebook yesterday that although his son might feel “wronged” by the media, as buying sports lottery tickets issued by the government cannot be considered gambling, and he had not run up a debt of NT$10 million (US$312,568) as had been reported, he believed Hsieh Wei-chou’s “obsessive buying” of lottery tickets was to blame.
“He brought trouble on himself and should engage in some strict introspection. I told him that he need not issue any clarifications, nor should he find any excuses,” Frank Hsieh said.
He also clarified that his wife, Yu Fang-chih (游芳枝), did not return from Japan to help Hsieh Wei-chou settle his debt as was reported, but to help take care of her three grandchildren, as their daughter was hospitalized following a fall in August last year.
He also rejected news reports that said a “Hsieh-faction” legislator had attempted to reduce the debt owed by Hsieh Wei-chou by negotiating with owners of lottery stations his son frequented.
“This is a matter that concerns my friends’ reputation in the world of politics. I therefore would like to issue a formal statement: It is not true,” Frank Hsieh said.
Separately yesterday, Hsieh Wei-chou said on Facebook that he would continue to defend himself against exaggerated and sensationalistic reporting about him, adding that he would pay heed to his father’s admonishments and desist from finding excuses for his wrongdoing.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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