Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and pan-blue politicians exchanged lawsuits yesterday over political donations.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"Mr. James Soong and others still cannot offer any evidence to prove that the Presidential Office is a center for `black gold' politics, so I am filing a lawsuit against them on behalf of the Presidential Office," Chiou said.
The six politicians are People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), PFP legislators Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) and Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislators Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教), Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) and Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
On Wednesday, Chiou demanded the blue camp apologize or show proof of their allegation, or face a lawsuit. But the politicians rejected the demand.
Chiou's deputy, Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), also filed lawsuits against Lee Chuan-chiao and PFP Legislator Lee Tung-hao (李桐豪) for libel, demanding NT$50 million as compensation. DPP Legislator Chang Ching-fang (張清芳) filed a lawsuit against Lee Tung-hao for libel as well.
Chen said, "Lee Chuan-chiao held a press conference to accuse me of handling illegal money, and that someone gave NT$20 million to dine with me in the Presidential Office. But this is not a fact. I did not see Chang Min-chiang (章民強)," Chen said.
Chang Min-chiang is chairman of the Pacific Sogo Department Stores.
"Lee Tung-hao also said that I had an apartment worth NT$60 million in Kaohsiung, and it is not true either. Both accusations have damaged my reputation," Chen said.
Countering the DPP's lawsuits, the PFP legislative caucus filed lawsuits against Chiou, accusing him of making malicious accusations against PFP politicians.
The PFP caucus said the Presidential Office was only shifting the focus to cover up the issue of the top officials taking illegal donations and no one has yet to clear up the matter.
Huang Shan-shan (
"With the Presidential Office charging PFP politicians with public insult to a public office, does that mean the Presidential Office's duty included taking money and interfering with the management of private enterprises?" Huang asked.
Meanwhile, Lee Chuan-chiao disappeared yesterday, although he accepted a phone interview with the media. Lee refused to disclose his whereabouts and said it was because he had received too many threats in the past few days.
Pacific Construction Co (太平洋建設) issued a statement two days ago saying that there was a top official at the Presidential Office involved in the management transfer of Pacific Sogo, but its chairman, Chang Min-chiang, never went to the Presidential Office to meet anyone, and never spent NT$20 million to meet Presidential Office officials.
According to Pacific Construction, the money, instead, was given by Mingyang Development Company (明陽開發公司), but Pacific Construction refused to explain where the money went.
Lee Chuan-chiao then alleged that it was Chang Min-chiang's son, Chang Chi-min (章啟民), who went to the Presidential Office to see Chen Che-nan. Lee Chuan-chiao said that Chang Min-chiang went to see him to talk about the matter on Monday, accompanied by four friends.
Lee Chuan-chiao urged Chang Min-chiang not to deny anything, threatening to reveal the names of the four friends, who he said were all respected and well-known figures.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats