A driver rammed a large truck into the main gate of the Presidential Office Building yesterday morning, in what police have initially determined was an intentional act.
Chiehshou Police Station Chief Tsai Han-cheng (蔡漢政) said the driver has been identified as Chang Te-cheng (張德正).
The incident — the most serious security breach to occur at the Presidential Office Building in years — took place at 5:05am when Chang drove a 35-tonne truck into the office, ramming through three layers of protective barriers and speeding up a flight of stairs before being stopped by a bulletproof door leading to the office’s main building, police said.
Photo: Chen En-hui, Taipei Times
Security personnel had slammed shut the bulletproof door in seconds when they saw the vehicle heading toward the building, they added.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was not in the building at the time of the incident, as he is on a state visit to Sao Tome and Principe.
The impact from the crash knocked Chang unconscious and he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police said, adding that no one else had been injured and the truck had been towed away from the scene.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Tsai said the 41-year-old suffered contusions to the back of his head, a collapsed lung and fractures in his hands and legs.
He was conscious after receiving treatment, but has so far refused to answer questions, the police chief added.
Tsai said that Chang’s mother told the authorities that her son does not have a political preference and seldom talked about politics.
She then said that her son had written a note on a mirror in his room yesterday morning asking her to take care of herself and his children, and saying that as for “my own business, I will resolve that myself.”
Chang’s mother told the police that her son had recently divorced his second wife and was being sued by his ex-wife’s brother for allegedly causing her bodily harm.
The vehicle that Chang was driven belonged to a transportation company in Taipei where he started working six months ago.
According to the company’s owner, surnamed Lin (林), Chang drove the truck from the firm’s premises at 4am on an assignment to carry construction waste from Taoyuan County’s Gueishan Township (龜山) to Keelung.
Lin was quoted as telling the police that Chang had a good work record and that he did not talk a lot with his colleagues.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday morning sent officials to examine the scene.
The prosecutors’ office said that Chang could face charges of interfering with public functions, in addition to charges of destruction, abandonment and damaging property.
Additional reporting by CNA and AFP
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘COMPREHENSIVE PLAN’: Lin Chia-lung said that the government was ready to talk about a variety of issues, including investment in and purchases from the US The National Stabilization Fund (NSF) yesterday announced that it would step in to staunch stock market losses for the ninth time in the nation’s history. An NSF board meeting, originally scheduled for Monday next week, was moved to yesterday after stocks plummeted in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 32 percent tariffs on Taiwan on Wednesday last week. Board members voted to support the stock market with the NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) fund, with injections of funds to begin as soon as today. The NSF in 2000 injected NT$120 billion to stabilize stocks, the most ever. The lowest amount it
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
RSS