The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the United Daily News (UDN) of tarnishing the reputation of President Chen Shui-bian (
Wu Nai-jen (
"The United Daily News published three stories, unverified and unattributed, on Feb. 6, 8 and 11 accusing the DPP government of involvement in a bribery scandal," Wu said. "But the stories do not have any specific evidence."
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
"These stories not only mislead the public and hurt the president's honor, but also endanger the reputation of the United Daily News," he said.
Wu said the stories are in violation of Article 92 of the Election and Impeachment Law, which regulates spreading rumors in an attempt to affect the outcome of an election.
He called the media's performance during this presidential election campaign the worst in more than 20 years.
Wu said the intention of the United Daily News to sway the election has damaged the credibility of the media, and the DPP hopes the letter will prompt the newspaper to improve.
He cited an editorial in the United Daily News on its 47th anniversary that upheld "anti-communism, democracy, unification and progress" as its principles, but said the newspaper has violated its own principles and ethos.
Wu said the DPP could no longer put up with such irresponsible reports and that it decided to fight back against the paper.
"We will start with a rational appeal, but we haven't decided yet whether to take legal action against the United Daily News."
"Article 92 not only refers to civil issues but also may lead to imprisonment for five years," Wu said. "If the United Daily News fails to make an improvement, we will resort to legal procedures."
Responding to Wu's remarks, the paper issued a statement saying, "The United Daily News deals with stories according to journalistic professionalism and journalistic ethics."
It called on candidates to respect the media's role in society.
Meanwhile, the DPP's campaign headquarters said the pan-blue camp was using campaign tricks that have been condemned in other democratic countries.
"The first kind of blue-camp negative campaign trick is to make up facts and then implicate an opponent," Wu said, "like when former legislator Lin Ruey-tou (林瑞圖) claimed that Chen Shui-bian had gone to Macau for a wench in 1998.
"The second one is to create a sensational story for slandering. This includes when People First Party [PFP] Legislator Chiu Yi (
"The third is to viciously impute blame to another, such as when PFP Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) accused former Department of Health head Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) of being involved in a sexual harassment case in October 2002. She later apologized for accusing the wrong person," Wu said.
"The last kind is to spread slanderous rumors with groundless talk, such as PFP Chairman James Soong (
Wu said the blue camp's ridiculous rumors have developed to an evil degree and are even encouraged by the blue camp's vice presidential candidate, Soong.
"We hope the media do not serve as those evil tricks' accomplice," he said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS