Taipei prosecutors said yesterday they would launch an investigation following allegations by Hong Kong movie star Jimmy Wang (王羽) that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had asked him to assassinate former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良).
"Prosecutors could interview Jimmy Wang and other individuals involved to learn more about the matter," Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) told reporters yesterday, describing the case as an attempted homicide.
He said that prosecutors could bring Wang in for questioning if it were determined that he was involved in the case.
Quoting reports by the media, Lin said that a Taiwanese weapons dealer may also have some information about the matter and that prosecutors would attempt to get in touch with him.
In an interview published on Monday, Wang told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) that the KMT had asked him to assassinate Hsu, who was living in the US at the time.
Hsu fled to the US in 1979 during a security crackdown on Taiwanese independence advocates and lived there for 10 years.
He now lives in Taiwan.
The report quoted Wang as saying that then-director of the KMT's Mainland Affairs Department Bai Wan-hsiung (白萬祥) had contacted him to do the job.
It said Wang did not accept the job because Bai had not given him a written contract.
Bai died three years ago.
Wang issued a statement last night confirming the report.
Responding to the prosecutors' statement that he might be listed as a suspect, Wang said that as a long-term resident of Taiwan, he was willing to do what the law requires.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said