Legislators yesterday accused the judiciary of failing to keep track of a potential key witness in the election-eve shooting at a campaign rally in Taipei County on Friday.
In a violent turn of events that night, Sean Lien (連勝文), a son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), was shot in the face and a bystander, 29-year-old Huang Yun-sheng (黃運聖), was killed during the campaign rally staged by KMT Sinbei City councilor candidate Chen Hung-yuan (陳鴻源).
Local media reports said that 10 minutes prior to the shooting, the suspect, Lin Cheng-wei (林正偉), attempted to phone Tu Yi-kai (杜義凱), Chen’s campaign director, three times.
Reports that Tu left Taiwan for Shanghai on Wednesday sparked criticism from several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers.
“The judiciary was being too careless,” KMT Legislator Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said at the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee meeting.
KMT Legislator Hsu Shu-po (許舒博) agreed, saying: “I couldn’t understand why he [Tu] left for China at this important moment.”
KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳), however, declined to comment, saying: “It is too sensitive.”
The opposition also demanded an explanation from the judicial authorities, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) saying Tu might have gone to China to “bury the evidence.”
She demanded that the government officials responsible step down, saying they had botched the probe.
Tu returned from Macau yesterday afternoon and was swamped by reporters upon his arrival at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Tu said his trip to Shanghai was a scheduled visit, adding that it was business-related travel that he had to attend to in person.
Asked whether Lin had attempted to call him, Tu said he did not know as he did not check the calls he missed.
Saying he had told police about his overseas trip before leaving, Tu expressed his anger over media reports, which he said seemed to insinuate that the trip had something to do with the shooting.
At a separate setting yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) demanded a thorough investigation by the judiciary into the shooting, adding that whoever is responsible should be punished.
“We will absolutely not allow violent and illegal incidents to continue to happen,” Wu said after hearing a Central Election Commission briefing on Saturday’s special municipality elections.
Wu said he had instructed the Cabinet to take good care of Huang’s bereaved family.
He urged the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice to investigate the shooting and act accordingly to demonstrate the government’s determination to punish criminals and to root out election irregularities.
The DPP also urged the government to probe the shooting and prevent a recurrence of such incidents.
“The government must quickly uncover the truth and clearly explain the matter to the public and the families of the victims,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Wednesday during the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting.
Tsai rebutted allegations that the DPP might be involved in the shooting. She said the assailant, the mastermind and those who were spreading the rumors should be harshly condemned for attempting to provoke confrontations.
She also called on the government to devise measures to prevent a recurrence of such violence and to dissuade the media from misleading the public.
DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said the party would also set up a task force to track and monitor developments in the shooting case.
Anyone caught using the incident to malign the DPP must be prepared to take legal responsibility, he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
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