Fri, Dec 24, 1999 page3

• Chang revelation triggers denial by alleged lover

  MEDIA FRENZY In faxes and in person, two people reportedly at the heart of the scandal are issuing conflicting claims as to who is involved with whom

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  The most controversial sex scandal to hit Taiwan in decades is getting stranger by the day. Yesterday saw a bizarre series of claims surface in local media, while the man at the center of the scandal, former Presidential Office secretary-general John Chang (31孝嚴), failed to show up at a ceremony to hand over to his successor.

  In the latest twist, the woman named by several newspapers as allegedly involved with Chang, former TV actress and now interior designer Wang Hsiao-chan (?y殼N嬋), says she has been framed.

  Wang faxed a written announcement to the media late Wednesday night, saying she was not involved with Chang.

  However, she also cancelled a press conference scheduled for yesterday afternoon.

  The chairman of an entertainers' association, Chiang Hou-jen (姜厚任), who had been contacted by Wang to arrange the press conference, told a TV reporter that Wang should "come out to tell the truth."

  Earlier in the day, in an exclusive TV interview, Wang said she was acquainted with Chang, but they see each other only publicly.

  She also claimed that members of the media had been making false reports about her in connection with the scandal and that somebody was obviously trying to frame her.

  In an even stranger development, a man claiming to be Wang's husband, Lin Li-hsuen (林利萱), an associate professor of accounting at Yuan Ze University (?葩?j學), issued a written statement yesterday in which he said that he and Wang don't intend to divorce, contrary to media claims. He also denied speculation that he had been the one who had leaked the note, saying only that "time will prove the truth."

  Wang, however, denied Lin's claim that they are married.

  There were more claims and counterclaims in the scandal yesterday.

  Liu Tai-ying (劉泰-^), chairman of the KMT's business management committee, denied reports that he had introduced Wang to Chang. Through the committee's pubic relations office, Liu said he had had dinner with Wang just once and that was five years ago.

  Chao Lin (趙林) of the KMT's Overseas Affairs Department (海?u會), who has been colleagues with Chang for several years, said he thought the entire incident was a conspiracy.

  "I think Chang is being framed, and that there might be more than three people involved," Chao told a radio reporter yesterday morning.

  Meanwhile, Lo Chiung-yu (?瓊玉), chairperson of a non-profit organization for divorced women -- the Warm Life for Women (晚晴協會) -- said the way Chang and his wife, Huang Mei-lun (黃美-?/CHINESE>), have dealt with the scandal has set a bad example for society.

  "In the couple's press conference, Chang's wife told the public that both she and her children would forgive him. She is simply telling the wives out there to be more forgiving of their husband's extramarital affairs and so the husbands will think it's OK to be disloyal because if Chang's wife can forgive him, your wife can forgive you, too," she said.

  Meanwhile, yesterday's hand-over ceremony was presided over by Vice President Lien Chan (3s戰) and was attended by the new secretary-general, Ding Mou-shih (?B懋時) -- who is currently senior presidential advisor and National Security Council secretary-general -- and deputy secretary-general Lin Pi-chao (林碧炤), who attended on Chang's behalf.

  Chang is the first Presidential Office secretary-general to quit his job under the cloud of a sex scandal. He is the illegitimate son of the late former President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
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