The Supreme Prosecutors Office yesterday announced it is closing its investigation into the 319 assassination attempt, bringing an end to a saga that has sharply polarized the nation for almost a year and a half.
Investigators have concluded that retired construction worker Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) was entirely responsible for shooting President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on March 19 last year, and that he committed suicide shortly after the failed assassination attempt.
"The 319 assassination task force has completed an investigation report which concludes that the assassination attempt was not staged by President Chen or Vice President Lu, and that Chen and Lu were shot while leading a motorcade in Tainan City on the afternoon of March 19," State Public Prosecutor-General Wu Ying-chao (
"Chen Yi-hsiung, who was unsatisfied with the political situation and Chen's government, fired two shots toward the president. One bullet hit Chen [Shui-bian] and another bullet hit Lu, but Lu was not his target," Wu said.
"Chen Yi-hsiung committed the assassination attempt by himself, and no other suspect has been found," Wu said.
Wu, however, admitted that the task force had been unable to find the gun used in the shooting.
Implausible theories
Refuting charges that the president may have somehow wounded himself in a bid to tilt the following day's election in his favor, the investigation report released yesterday said police found two large, fresh bloodstains on Chen Shui-bian's underwear as he was being transported to Chi Mei Hospital soon after the shots were fired.
"The fresh gunshot wound signified that it is impossible that Chen made a false wound before the accident occurred," the investigation report states.
The report says that according to the bullets' trajectory, the shots were fired from a spot opposite to Chen and Lu's vehicle, so it is also impossible that the president's or vice president's guards intentionally shot at the vehicle.
Regarding the allegation that Chen and Lu somehow intentionally wounded themselves at the hospital, the report states that not a single staff member, presidential guard or vice-presidential guard has said anything that would back up that charge.
Unhappy man
The report says Chen Yi-hsiung's motive in the assassination attempt was his extreme disgust and anger toward the government. He said in a note before March 19 that he hated the fact that Chen Shui-bian would likely be re-elected, the report said.
The report said a security camera near the site of the shooting in Tainan City filmed a middle-aged, partially bald male in a yellow jacket walking quickly and nervously away from the site of the shooting immediately after it occurred. On March 26 last year, police publicized the man's picture and asked him to report to police, but he never appeared.
The report said Chen Yi-hsiung's wife told investigators "when the police published the picture of a baldheaded man with a yellow coat, I watched it on TV and asked my husband `Is that you?' and `Did you do this?'"
Chen Yi-hsiung responded that "it was his own business and that he would handle this," according to his wife. She said her husband had burned the yellow coat in his house the very day police published the picture, the report added.
According to the report, Chen Yi-hsiung's wife admitted that her husband was out when the shooting occurred.
"When he came home that evening, he was quiet and seemed lost in thought," Chen's wife told investigators.
On March 29 last year, Chen Yi-hsiung's drowned corpse was found at the An-Ping Port (
Other evidence
In addition to Chen Yi-hsiung family's statements, the report also said that last September, police identified Tang Shou-yi (
Police then looked for people who had bought arms from Tang. In March, police discovered that Chen Yi-hsiung had bought a pistol and bullets from Tang.
But the second son of Chen Yi-hsiung denied yesterday that his father was the would-be assassin.
"No direct evidence points to my father as a suspect, so in my mind, my father absolutely was not involved," the son told reporters.
also see story:
Chen, Lu accept results of assassination investigation
‘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