The Journalist (新新聞) admitted yesterday that it lacked any concrete evidence to prove Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) had spoken with one its top editors.
But at the same time it blamed Lu for erasing telephone records which would have revealed she was spreading rumors of an affair in the Presidential Office and trying to undermine President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The president of The Journalist, Wang Chien-chuang (王健壯), said yesterday at a late night press conference that the story was based on two phone calls between Yang Chao (
Yang, who received a message from Lu and then had a conversation with her, said he had no way of recording their dialogue.
"When Yang received Lu's phone calls, he was in the car on his way home. There was no way for him to tape their conversation. Besides, criminal law prohibits phone taping [without consent] as a violation of privacy," Wang said.
"The scenario we were most concerned about has happened," Wang added.
Wang said that the incoming calls made by Lu had not shown up on Yang's phone records, therefore, he suspected that Lu had exerted the powers of her office to alter Yang's incoming phone records.
Lu's lawyers flatly denied the accusation two hours later.
"[The media] has reached a verdict [on Lu] before any trial has been conducted. They kept [unfairly] accusing Lu of conspiracy based on what she had said or done [without evidence]," Lu's lawyer, Chiu Ya-wen (
In a written press release Chiu argued that while the media has the right to report the truth it also needs to back its reports up with evidence.
"Such a serious accusation has the capability of shaking the nation's foundations," Chiu said in the release. "Lu's name must be cleared."
The libel suit between Lu and the magazine is expected to have its first trial hearing on Friday. Both parties have previously requested the details of Yang's incoming and outgoing telephone calls between 10pm to midnight on Nov. 3 -- a pivotal piece of evidence to be used in court to potentially bolster the libel case, or sink it.
After Lu filed the libel suit against The Journalist on Dec. 21, Yang said that he had received Lu's telephone calls, in which she intentionally circulated details of Chen's alleged extra-martial affair with his aide and translator Bikhim Hsiao (蕭美琴). Yang and Lu have been accusing each other of lying ever since.
Yang dismissed accusations that the magazine had conjured up a lie just to boost circulation, which later became difficult to patch up, he said.
"How could my luck be so bad as to pick a date when the vice president coincidentally placed absolutely no outgoing calls," Yang said yesterday at the press conference, adding that Lu's telephone records showed that she made several calls the midnight before and after Nov. 3.
While Lu did not make any telephone calls on her mobile phone on Nov 3, she did make some from her home, one of Lu's lawyer said.
"This explains why there are no telephone records showing calls from her mobile," said Yu Mei-nu (
Yang said that many other illogical details had cast doubt on whether Lu was lying. For example, Lu first denied she had made that phone call, but later argued that someone faked her name to make that call, he said.
"This shows that there was a call made," Yang said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS