New Party lawmaker Elmer Feng
Feng released only one cassette at yesterday's press conference instead of 12 as he had vowed to.
Feng claimed the recordings covered his meeting with Chen Che-nan (
The conversations, which mostly focused on three direct links, provided little proof of Feng's appointment as a secret envoy, except for one passage where Chen asked Feng to "please put all your efforts into [providing] service in communication." Chinese-language media commented yesterday that the recordings contained "more polite exchanges than controversy."
According to Feng, the recordings showed Chen's stance on cross-strait issues were much softer than publicly known.
Chen issued a statement on Saturday saying Feng had interpreted the private conversations out of context to raise his own status.
Chen said that he had decided to meet with Feng only to have the slashed portions of the Presidential Office's budget restored.
Chen said he had initially declined Feng's requests to meet, but Feng had then retaliated by pushing for a deep cut in the Presidential Office's budget and bringing up vulgar accusations against the president in the legislature, including his relentless questioning of presidential aide Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) about washing the president's underwear.
After most of the budget was restored, Feng continued to call "up to eight times a day" asking for an appointment, Chen said, adding that he had since declined to meet with Feng because he felt Feng only parotted Beijing's position despite his status as a Taiwan legislator.
Meanwhile, three DPP law-makers, Tsai Huang-liang (
The lawmakers cast doubts on Feng's claim that the recordings had been provided by "intelligence agencies," saying Feng may have made the recordings himself.
The lawmakers also questioned Feng's integrity in light of recording private conversations with government officials on the sly and twisting their meaning to his own advantage.
The lawmakers also questioned whether Feng might have released his secret recordings to the Beijing authorities.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
RSS