Peng Wan-ru's (
Unfortunately, blood and fingerprint tests which came back later in the day forced police to rule out the possibility that the dead man was indeed responsible for Peng's murder.
Peng, then the director of the DPP's women's affairs department, disappeared after getting into a taxi to attend a meeting the night before a DPP party convention in Kaohsiung on Nov. 30, 1996. Her body was found three days later outside an abandoned warehouse in Kaohsiung, naked and with more than 30 stab wounds. According to reports, she had been raped.
Police have never given up hope of catching her killer, which they still to this day believe was the taxi driver that picked Peng up that fateful night. Their investigation, however, has seen little progress in the past three years, resulting in scathing public criticism against perceived inefficiency. Several suspects in police custody have confessed to Peng's murder. All were dismissed after police found testimony or evidence inconsistent with the facts of the murder.
Yesterday morning, around 6am, investigators thought they had made a breakthrough after police reported finding the body of a man who had apparently asphyxiated himself inside his taxi in Taipei County's Shihting (
A plastic tube from the car's exhaust pipe was running into the cab, where Chen Tsai-fu (
"Please forgive me," the note added. "Dear wife -- I'm sorry, please bury my body."
After discovering the note, a joint task force was formed by police units from Kaohsiung and Taipei to look into the link with Peng's death. However, it was confirmed later in the day that results of tests on Chen's blood and fingerprints did not match those left by Peng's killer at the scene of the murder.
Police have not completely ruled out a link between Chen and the Peng murder and investigations are continuing.
Peng's 1996 murder came at a sensitive time for the government, as it took place soon after another high-profile killing -- the Nov. 21 assassination of former Taoyuan County Commissioner Liu Pang-yu (
Peng's murder also pushed on to the front burner of public opinion a number of stalled bills in the legislature relating to women's safety, which have since been passed. Her husband, Hung Wan-sheng (
Peng, who had been dedicated to women's issues and vigorously advocated women's political participation, had gone to Kaohsiung on Nov. 30 to persuade DPP representatives to adopt a party platform that would ensure it reserves a quarter of its candidates' slots in popular elections for women.
Peng's husband expressed his disappointment, saying there seemed to be little hope left. "Now we can only rely on God. If the killer is ever arrested, it will be thanks to God's mercy," Hung said.
"I've never given up hope that the case would be solved some day. But I've also come to terms with the reality that it is not something we can force," he said.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would