People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
When approached by reporters on his way to a new book launch, Soong said that at the time the US government sent then-American Institute in Taiwan director Douglas Paal to make the promise in a bid to persuade them to end the pan-blue camp's violent demonstrations on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
Soong said that the US government later broke its promise after pan-blue supporters withdrew from the boulevard.
He did not present any evidence to substantiate his claim.
The assassination attempt took place during a campaign motorcade in Tainan on March 19, 2004.
Chen and Lu were both shot during the event. Bullets grazed Chen's stomach and hit Lu's knee, but the injuries were not life-threatening.
Lien and Soong, who ran on the same ticket in the election, lost the presidential election one day later by just 29,518 votes.
Lien and Soong called Chen and Lu's victory unfair and demanded a recount while many pan-blue supporters refused to recognize the result of the election and staged a demonstration on the boulevard.
Soong said yesterday that recent comments by forensics expert Henry Lee (李昌鈺) regarding the shooting represented a warning signal from the US to Chen that the US could expose the "truth" about the shooting.
Soong was referring to a report by the Chinese-language China Times on Thursday, which quoted Lee as saying that Lu was the prime target of the shooting.
However, later on Thursday, Judy Cheng (
Lee said he could not infer that Lu was the main target of the shooter from traces left at the scene.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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