Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called on the government to relaunch an investigation into an assassination attempt on her and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on March 19, 2004, adding that Beijing might have plotted the shooting to intervene in Taiwanese politics.
Lu spoke at a forum in Taipei marking the 13th anniversary of the shooting, addressing persistent speculation that it was staged by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to secure Chen’s re-election.
The shooting took place one day before the 2004 presidential election as the pair was campaigning in Tainan, where a bullet grazed Chen’s abdomen and another hit Lu’s knee.
Photo: CNA
The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office closed the case in 2005, saying the shooting was the work of a lone gunman, Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who was found dead 10 days after the incident.
Lu yesterday cited exiled Chinese academic Yuan Hongbing (袁紅冰) as saying that Beijing might have plotted the assassination to polarize Taiwan as part of its scheme to annex the nation.
According to Yuan, former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) asked Xin Qi (辛旗), a Chinese People’s Liberation Army major general actively involved in civilian exchanges with Taiwanese academics and politicians in his capacity as Chinese Culture Promotion Society deputy director, to plot the shooting without killing Chen Shui-bian or Lu.
The shooting was aimed at damaging Taiwan’s democracy and making Taiwanese believe that elections were rigged, but it had to see Chen Shui-bian and Lu re-elected so that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), losing power and authority, would be willing to succumb to China, Lu said.
Beijing assigned nine agents to execute the plot, and Chen Yi-hsiung might have been recruited as the gunman, Lu quoted Yuan as saying.
A fisherman in Tainan allegedly saw Chen Yi-hsiung with the suspected agents near Anping Harbor (安平港) on March 26 and 27, 2004 — a few days prior to Chen Yi-hsiung’s death — seeking to rent a boat from the fisherman, possibly to use it to escape, Lu said.
Lu said she struggled for a few years to accept Yuan’s theory as a possible explanation of the shooting, “but I am determined to make the case a subject of public debate again” in light of the suspected intervention by Beijing, Lu said.
Alternatively, local crime rings might have instigated the shooting to influence the election, because bets were placed on the election result, she added.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has asked if the shooting was plotted by Chen Shui-bian himself, but did not comment on the shooting during his eight years in office, even though the now-defunct Special Investigation Division (SID) had assembled a task force to investigate it, Lu said.
“Was [the SID] so stupid that it could not crack the case? Or did it find the answer, but [the truth] was the opposite of what they accused Chen Shiu-bian of? That is why they did not comment on the shooting,” Lu said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has the right and the obligation to reopen the investigation into the shooting, Lu said.
Only a few DPP members have paid attention to reinvestigating the shooting, compared with their efforts to achieve transitional justice, which should also include plans to uncover the truth behind the shooting that has divided Taiwan, Lu said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data