First lady Wu Shu-chen (
Wu also sued Chen Yu-hao for violating the Election and Recall Law (
"Chen Yu-hao has been making false accusations against me in the past few days by saying he had visited me at my home twice and gave me NT$6 million in cash," Wu told a press conference.
"This is an absolute fabrication and he is full of lies. I have never met him on any private occasions," she said.
Wu said she was forced to take legal action against the fugitive since "my silence might be mistaken for a confession" amid negative election campaigning.
"Chen yu-hao left huge debts in Taiwan but claims that his assets are much greater then his debts," Wu said. "If that were true, he should immediately return to Taiwan to deal with his liabilities."
"He said that he has no money and has become a vagrant, so how could he hire bodyguards and take out so many ads in Taiwan's media?" Wu asked.
The tycoon fled Taiwan in 2002 while awaiting trial on corruption charges. In interviews earlier this week in San Francisco, he said he could prove he visited Wu in 1994 and again in 2000 before her husband was elected president.
Wu told reporters yesterday that his description of her bathroom was completely inaccurate.
"A popular local magazine did a feature story on my home in 1998, when Chen Shui-bian was running for the reelection as Taipei mayor," Wu said. "Chen Yu-hao should have read the story before making his lies."
"He said there was no toilet [in the bathroom] but you can see the toilet when you walk in," she said.
Wu's bathroom was specially designed to accommodate her wheelchair. She was paralyzed after being run down in 1985 in what many people believe was a politically motivated attack.
She expressed concern over the increasing negative tone of the campaign, saying that "whenever there is an election, there will be these smear campaigns.
"In the 1998 Taipei mayoral election, opponents said that my husband had secretly visited Macau many times to solicit prostitutes, and in the 2000 presidential election, opponents accused my husband of being involved in a lottery scandal," Wu said. "Those rumors and groundless allegations all proved to be tricks to tarnish him."
Deputy Secretary General to the President Chen Che-nan (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by