Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (
The denial was in response to charges by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that Lee went to visit then Chinese vice premier Qian Qichen (
The DPP said Lee made the visit to talk about Lien's firm stand on the so-called 1992 consensus (one China, with each side having its own interpretation), direct-links, peaceful negotiation and reunification.
The DPP caucus showed a letter written by Lee on Feb. 10 last year and addressed to a "Professor Lee."
In the letter, Lee Chuan-chiao asked professor Lee to arrange a meeting between him and top Chinese officials to discuss issues related to "peace and stability in cross-strait politics, transportation and economics."
The DPP caucus said professor Lee was Lee Chin-po (
According to the DPP, Lee Chuan-chiao went sightseeing in China with his fellow caucus members on Feb. 16 last year, but Lee left the group on Feb. 21 to fly to Beijing.
"Lee Chuan-chiao met Qian in the morning of the 23rd in a hotel, and then he met the official of a even higher rank in the afternoon at that official's home," DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
Lee Wen-chung also said that the unnamed official sent Huang Huizhen (
The DPP caucus refused to identify the official although that official was identified as someone surnamed Hu in the press release.
The DPP caucus said Chinese authorities later sent Huang to see Lien at the urging of Lee Chuan-chiao. Huang brought messages from China to Lien on March 20 last year, the DPP caucus said.
"We also know that Lee Chuan-chiao went to China again on Feb. 12 this year to see top Chinese officials about the election and the referendum," Lee Wen?chung said.
Lee Chuan-chiao first showed little recognition of the letter when confronted by the allegations but later admitted he wrote it without remembering much of the contents. He said he did not really know Lee Chin-po, but wrote the letter under the request of Hsu Chung-chin (
"After I revealed the Zanadau scandal, one day Hsu came to me to say that he had evidence about DPP scandals and said he wanted to join the blue camp. I checked and he seemed to have some evidence indeed," Lee Chuan-chiao said.
"Later he told me that he could arrange for me to meet Chinese officials like he did for DPP legislators Hsiao Bi-khim (
Lee Chuan-chiao said that Hsu asked him to write a letter to Lee Chin-po to take advantage of Lin Chin-po's connections.
"When I went to China, Hsu called and said he could arrange for me to meet the top officials, so I flew to Beijing. But I ended up seeing no one, and I just had a good time in Beijing doing sightseeing," Lee Chuan-chiao said.
He added that he went to China last week to gather evidence on illegal actions by top DPP officials.
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 —
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
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS