Protests calling for President Lee Teng-hui's
Yesterday's protests were marked by sporadic incidents of violence and the use of water cannons once again by police trying to disperse the remaining crowd of several hundred.
While protesters said they could accept the results of Saturday's elections, they blamed Lee for the result, claiming he had used Lien Chan
PHOTO:CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Lien Chan was used, he was double crossed," said Jack Chang, a KMT member who voted for Soong.
"By making us choose between Lien and Soong, Lee gave us a very difficult decision," said Cathy Chiu, an education researcher. "This let Chen Shui-bian win," Chiu added.
Chang said the only reason why Soong was subject to so many attacks during the election was because, "Lee hates him."
Although the number of protesters had dwindled from a few thousand late Sunday night to several hundred yesterday, there were repeated clashes with police as they stepped up their efforts to disperse the crowd, using water cannons and large flanks of shield-wielding officers
However, as of late yesterday night, police were still unable to get protesters to leave. Pleas by the Taipei City government and police continued to prove fruitless.
Even Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Local media reported yesterday that Mei Chang-kun (
Although President Lee's spokesman said Sunday that Lee would step down from his party post in September, protesters said they would accept nothing less than Lee's immediate resignation and would not leave until that happened.
Graffiti scrawled outside of the Chiang Kai Shek memorial read, "If Lee steps down in September all of the party assets will be stolen."
The KMT headquarters' walls were caked with eggs and with graffiti reading "Step down Lee Teng-hui" and "Lee is a traitor and thief."
One protester, Phillip Yang, said he would try and kill Lee if he got a chance. "It's not that difficult to build a bomb, I can do it," he said, adding, "Lee is a liar."
The protests and pressure appeared to be paving the way for Soong's return to the party. However, Liu Song-fan (
On Saturday night and Sunday day many protesters were waving Soong's campaign flags. But by Sunday evening all of the protesters had switched to ROC flags and by yesterday many were wearing Lien caps and vests. However, the majority of protesters said they had voted for Soong.
Soong said he had no plans to return to the KMT and seek any position or party resources. Soong said that his new party would register sometime within the next two weeks.
He called on those who were protesting to exercise restraint.
In a meeting with Buddhist Master Sheng Yan (
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS