First lady Wu Shu-jen (
"It is a duty to appear in court and the first lady will in principle perform her duty, unless something extraordinary happens," Presidential Office Spokesman David Lee (
Wu was indicted on corruption and forgery charges in connection with President Chen Shui-bian's (
A member of Wu's medical team, Wong Chao-wen (
National Taiwan University Hospital will send a three to four-person medical team to provide any possible assistance, he said.
"She has been in good shape recently," Wong said. "There will be a medical team of at least three or four physicians to accompany her during the trial. There should not be any problem."
Wong said Wu was fine when she voted last Saturday and that he was confident Wu would be able to make it to the trial.
Judges yesterday said Wu did not file any request for legal absence from today's trial.
"As of now, she [Wu] is supposed to attend the trial on time as we have not received any application for legal absence from Friday's event," said Judge Liu Shou-sung (劉壽嵩), spokesman for the Taipei District Court.
Security inspections had already been completed, he added.
The National Security Bureau has also established a "1215 special task force" and assigned four security guards to accompany Wu to the court and stay inside the court room with the first lady throughout the trial.
Today's trial will be co-chaired by judges Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓), Hsu Chien-hui (徐千惠) and Wu Ding-ya (吳定亞) in Court Room No. 7.
Inside the court room, 50 seats will be reserved for the press while another 30 seats will be reserved for the public.
Another 450 seats will also be reserved for the public in the auditorium on the sixth floor of the judicial building.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Cheng Yun-peng (
"A cold front is coming [today]. It would be better for the first lady to stay at home during cold weather as she has been in ill health recently," Wang said.
Wang said he and a group of people would keep an eye on the court today.
"If the pan-blues mobilize supporters to protest [against] the first lady, we will also take action," Wang said.
Cheng said that he could not see why the first lady should appear in court today "as the first day of a court session only has procedural meaning, for judges to identify defendants."
"Many defendants choose not to appear in court at the beginning of the trial," he added.
Cheng added that the court had made an unnecessary fuss over Wu's trial, arranging for it to be recorded and broadcast live in an auditorium.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling and Shih Hsiu-chuan
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
RSS