Backed by people from her hometown, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Yin Ling-ying (
Chanting "protecting Yin Ling-ying, opposing black gold," about 130 people who had been brought in by buses from Yin's hometown of Linnei Township, Yunlin County, yesterday showed their support for Yin at the legislative compound.
Yin claims Chang slapped her in the face in Geneva while the two were there to lobby support for the nation's ninth bid to enter the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer. Chang had previously told reporters that Yin was "fantasizing" about what had happened.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The two women flew home on the same flight at around 6am yesterday. Both were greeted by their husbands at the airport and later by their supporters in Taipei and Yunlin, respectively.
According to Yin, Chang slapped her without any reason on the night of May 15 when she and other members of the Taiwanese delegation returned from a dinner party hosted by Lin Yi-fu (林義夫), the nation's new representative to the WTO headquarters.
Yin said Chang slapped her and then told her, "You have to be responsible for what you did. Wait and see if you dare to talk about the incinerator case again."
Earlier this month, Chang's brother, former Yunlin County commissioner Chang Jung-wei (
Last July, Linnei Township warden Chen Ho-shan (陳河山) admitted that he had worked with Chang Jung-wei on the project and had accepted a total of NT$18 million from contractors. Chang Jung-wei went into hiding after prosecutors summoned him for questioning last June. He and was arrested in December.
Yin, who failed in two attempts to take the incinerator case to court, managed to show the prosecutor the operational plan of the incinerator, listing various enormously inflated expenses.
Producing a copy of a hand-written injury examination from a hospital in Geneva, Yin yesterday said that she has asked her lawyer to request a copy of the hotel's surveillance tape and to file a criminal lawsuit against Chang Li-shan in Geneva.
"I considered settling the matter out of court, but I eventually decided to file the lawsuit anyway after she accused me of `fantasizing' it," Yin said.
"It's shameful that this incident has become an international farce and the county's unique gangster and hooligan culture has made a name in the international arena," she said.
Chang Li-shan yesterday tearfully admitted at a press conference that she had indeed struck Yin, but claimed that she had been provoked by Yin's "improper talk" about her brother.
"Every single word she said at the dinner table deeply hurt my feelings," she said. "I was so distraught that I was trembling and in a cold sweat the whole time."
Chang Li-shan claimed that Yin vilified her brother during the dinner and that she slapped her as a "friendly reminder" to respect the dignity of her imprisoned brother.
However, Yin said that she had not mentioned either Chang's name at the dinner table, although someone did compliment her on her courage to expose the scandal.
"I told the person that it is my duty to do so and that there is much room for improvement in the nation's handling of black-gold politics and judicial reform," she said.
"I'm very curious to know why anyone deserves a slap in the face if they mention the incinerator scandal."
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS